Pretty Young Thing
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Jace was eleven years older than Clary, but he made her insides feel all mushy and brought her the really expensive photography lights that she had been saving up for, so it wasn't really something she thought about it. Clace.
1. Chapter 1

**I've said I would write this sort of story for a while, one with a bit of an age gap one, so here we go. I'd written several chapters, although I did tweak this one a bit after reading this other story, so partial credit to that! It's not edited at the moment, I'll come back and do that tomorrow. Also, this obviously is an age gap story, so if that's not something you're into, then probably not for you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. **

Clarissa Fray let out a groan as she opened her eyes slowly.

The sun was really bright.

Why the _fuck_ was the sun so bright?

She had closed her curtains before her and Isabelle Lightwood had gone to town.

She always closed her curtains before she went to town, because she was never in the right frame of mind to do it when she got back, and she knew how bad it was to wake up to the sun coming through the windows.

It was shit.

And it was shit now.

Clary attempted opening her eyes again, and there was a dark head on the pillow next to me.

One; it was a white pillow—stark white, as in, it looked as though it was regularly washed and probably soaked in, like, fabric softener, because the pillow under Clary's head was really soft as well.

Clary was pretty sure there wasn't a single piece of white bedding in their entire apartment.

Or, there might have been at one stage, but they would definitely not be white now.

Two; she didn't usually go for dark haired guys, and also...Long hair. Really long. A little long was okay, maybe even shoulder length, but this hair was so long it disappeared under the blanket.

Three; the sheets were really cozy. And the blanket. And the pillows.

Expensive feeling.

She frowned after staring at the head next to her for a few more beats, before lifting up the blanket to look underneath, and then she realized that it was actually _Izzy_ in bed next to her. That was okay. That was a relief. Her and Izzy slept in bed together a lot, so that was fine. She adored Izzy, and they cuddled a lot when they slept together, and Clary liked cuddles, especially when she was drunk.

Although usually they weren't together in some randoms house.

Clary looked at herself, noted that she was still wearing her underwear, which was great, although she was wearing a light blue v-neck. The shirt was obviously from someone bigger than her, because it was nearly double her size, but it was nice and soft. After glancing around the room, and noting that there were curtains, and they were pulled, but there was a little gap, which was where the sun was coming through. There were side tables that were not scratched at all, and looked as though they were cleaned regularly, because there was no dust on top, and there was a painting on the wall opposite her and a shelf with a few books.

It was a nice room.

It didn't belong to any of Clary's friends, that was for certain, and it wasn't Izzy's parents house, because when they ended up there, they ended up in Izzy's old room, which had blue walls and old glow-in-the dark stickers on the ceiling. And anyway, they only ended up hungover at Izzy's place when they were on the other side of the city at house parties, but they had been in _town_ last night.

Clary sat up slowly, her head spinning, and she closed her eyes as the pain subsided and then turned to put her feet on the ground.

Wooden.

Shiny.

Cold.

Nice.

Her thoughts were coming out almost like a caveman, which wasn't great, it meant that she had probably let Izzy talk her into doing some flaming shots last night.

That was never a good idea.

Clary finally stood up, slowly curling her toes, flexing her legs, rolling her shoulders and then reaching her arms upward. There were a few pops and cracks as she arched her back and then she let her arms fall back at her side with a small smile on her face.

When it came to mornings, there really wasn't much that was as good as a stretch when she had just woken up, other than maybe waking up to a morning orgasm, or leftover pizza from the night before, especially after a night of drinking.

Clary got up and tried to remember how they ended up back at this place last night. Things were a little fuzzy, but as she started thinking about it a bit harder, she remembered them figuring out how much it would cost to get an uber back to their apartment because they had ended up a little further into town than they expected. And then Izzy had said that she would call her cousin, because he had just moved back into the city and he stayed up all hours of the night, so she would see if he could come and get them. Then Izzy had called him and walked off for a bit to find somewhere quiet to speak, and _that_ was when the flaming shots had come into it.

"_Fuck_," Clary hissed.

The flaming shots had been _her_ idea.

Clary glanced around, and honestly? She couldn't remember getting here last night. She definitely didn't remember undressing and then getting into someone elses shirt, and then she wondered where her clothes were. As she looked around, there weren't any clothes on the ground, or on the chair in the corner of the room. There were no shoes there either.

Maybe their heels would have scratched up the wooden floors?

Clary vaguely remembered being impressed by a black and green car that looked as though it cost triple what she had ever earned in her life time, and then some golden haired guy trying to help her into the back of the car, and he had even stood in front of the door with his arms kind of out, to stop her from flashing the people on the side walk.

She walked out to the hallway and glanced around, and it became clear very quickly that they were actually in a _house_ as opposed to an apartment. The wooden floors were polished and shiny, and there was another painting hanging on the wall that she actually thought was pretty good, before she turned to walk toward the right, since the left let straight down into a bedroom, where she could see a perfectly made, four-poster bed. Her eyes widened as she got to the end of the hall, which opened out to a lounge, dining room and kitchen.

It was gorgeous.

It was, like, a proper, adult house.

And there were windows lining one wall, and it was clear they were on a hill _and_ in an expensive neighborhood, because when Clary looked through the window, there were fancy houses all around them and they had a good view over the city. The furniture all looked nice and new and well looked after and the TV was _huge_. As Clary looked around, taking in the lounge, and then the dining room and then the kitchen, she jerked a little in surprise as she saw someone standing there, a cup in his hand and a newspaper spread out on the island in the the middle of the kitchen.

The golden haired guy.

Shit, he was pretty.

"Hi," Clary began cautiously.

"Morning," he smiled at her gently, and put down his mug. "Did you want coffee?" Clary's eyes widened and then she let out a groan.

"Oh my fucking god, _yes_," she nodded her head a few times before groaning and closing her eyes. "I shouldn't have done that," she muttered.

"Yeah, you were pretty...Inebriated last night," he agreed as he walked over to the coffee maker, that was still full. Clary stayed where she was for a moment before coming walking toward the kitchen table, which wasn't too far from the kitchen. She pulled out a chair and then turned around, sliding her ass onto the table and bringing her legs up to rest on the chair. It was a nice chair.

Dark wood.

Wood.

That really seemed to be a thing for this guy.

Wood and glass, based on the big windows.

It was pretty classy.

The opposite of what Clary looked like right now.

She didn't even want to see what she looked like now.

"Sugar and milk?" The guy asked.

"Milk and...Three sugars. Do you have brown sugar? That's always better," Clary replied, pushing her hair out of her face. She still had her rings on from last night, she pulled one off slightly to look underneath and she noted there was a red dent into one side of her finger, from where she must have been pressing down on the finger where she slept. She made a face and then slid the ring back up and wished that she had elastic to put in her hair and pin it back.

"Who says brown sugar is better?" The guy asked with an amused smile, but he was walking to the big pantry and pulling it open. Even from where Clary sitting, she could see that everything was strangely in perfect lines.

Organised probably was the word, not strangely, but given nothing in Clary's apartment was organised, not even Simon Lewis' room, and he was the tidiest one in the apartment.

"Everyone. _Everyone_ knows that brown sugar is better," Clary replied, and that was honestly a bit of an odd question. The guy didn't look like he believed her entirely, but then he was coming over to her, and that was the first time that Clary saw him properly. Her vision wasn't the best, especially when she didn't have her glasses on. Or contacts. But she didn't wear her contacts when she went into town, or her glasses, because she could still see, and she didn't want to lose either of them.

He was _really_ pretty.

Fucking gorgeous, if she was being honest.

A bit older, but not heaps.

And he was dressed _really_ well.

Even though it was early morning on a _Sunday_.

"Why are you dressed in a suit?" She asked, her upper lip curling. "Have you got a wedding or something?" He looked down at himself and let out a laugh, shaking his head before taking a few steps back to pick up the coffee he had put down on the counter top. Instead of moving back around to the other side where he had been reading his paper, though, he leaned slightly against the counter top behind him and lifted his coffee to take a sip. He wasn't wearing a full suit, just the pants and fancy black shoes and a light purple shirt and a tie. But he would have a jacket, he definitely looked like the kind of guy who brought the whole thing together, not in pieces, one at a time.

Clary glanced to the side, to the end of the table, and over the back of the chair at the end, was a black, suit jacket.

She smirked as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Holy shit," she moaned, closing her eyes and tipping her head back and gave a little wiggle. When she had said there wasn't anything good about mornings other than stretching, orgasms and pizza, she had forgotten about coffee. Good, fresh coffee. "Holy shit, this is amazing." She opened her eyes back up and the guy opposite her was looking her with a strange expression, lips pursed together and eyes looking a few shade darker than they had a minute ago. "So?" Clary arched an eyebrow. "What's with the suit?" The guy blinked and his expression shifted a bit.

"Work," he replied.

"Work?" Clary made a face. "It's Sunday."

"I'm aware of that," he answered dryly and Clary just shook her head and sipped from her coffee again. She moaned again, but not quite as loud, and the guy straightened up, swallowing the rest of his coffee and moving to the sink. He actually washed it straight away, which was something Clary _never_ did. Sometimes she would rinse it, but not properly wash.

"So you're Izzy's cousin, right?" She continued. He turned back to face her, and he actually looked a little worried, eyebrows pulling together.

"Are you saying you don't know who I am?" He asked.

"Well, I remember Izzy saying she would call her cousin to pick her up, and I kind of remembered a golden haired hottie helping me into a car and then I woke up here with Izzy. So I'm guessing you're that guy," Clary shrugged.

"Did you know that when you woke up?" He still had a worried expression on his face.

"Nah," she shrugged a shoulder again and he looked at her, as though he was about to say something, but then Izzy was coming into the room. She'd pulled the blanket off the top of the bed and wrapped it around her, which was a good idea, because Clary's ass was kind of cold sitting directly on thet table. Although Clary had noticed the guys eyes dip to her legs a few times throughout their conversation, so actually, she didn't care.

"Hey!" Izzy's voice was too perky for someone who had gone out last night, but the girl never had hangovers.

It was fucking unfair.

She also had an elastic for her hair.

"You got another elastic?" Clary asked hopefully and Izzy shook her head as she walked over, pressing a kiss to Clary's cheek. "Bitch," Clary muttered, eyeing the elastic that was holding Izzy's hair up, wondering if she could talk her friend into giving it to her since her hair was a little sleeker and easier to manage than Clary's.

"Slag," Izzy replied with a smirk, getting up on the table with her and tightening the blanket around her shoulders. The guy in the kitchen was watching them with a small smile on his face. "So, Jace! This is my Clary. Clary, this is Jace, my cousin."

"Nice to officially meet you," Jace nodded at her, and his smile grew. Clary smiled back at him, tilting her head to the side. He was really well dressed, and when he had come over to her, he had smelt good as well, just subtle, definitely cologne as opposed to some cheap spray. He was wearing a watch, which was weird, because who wore a watch these days when they could just check on their phone, but it was an expensive looking watch. His hair was a little shaggy, he had bright gold eyes, full lips and a strong jaw.

He was really hot.

And rich, it appeared.

Clary raised her eyebrows as he walked back over the coffee machine to get a cup for Izzy, and her eyes dropped to his ass. His pants were clearly tailored because that ass...That was a nice ass, and the pants showed it off perfectly. She sucked the corner of her lower lip into her mouth as he reached forward, his pants stretching a little, and she tilted her head to the side to take it all in. She bet it would look even better out of the pants, but right now, she was happy with her view. When he turned back around, Jace's eyes were on her straight away, and he seemed to know what she had been looking at as he gave her another small smile.

Looking a little amused.

Like he had before.

Clary stared back, not at all embarassed, her smile changing to a smirk.

"I need to get into work," Jace said. "I'll give you a ride home."

"Did you have our clothes for us?" Clary asked she slid down off the table, the hem of the shirt she was wearing falling down to thigh length, and she his eyes dip down to look at her legs. She shifted one of her feet, so that they were parted, and she saw them dip down a little further. She remembered getting changed in the bathroom last night into clothes that her and Izzy had raided from the drawers last night, and they must have just left them on the ground in there. Maybe. She wasn't sure.

"Yes. There's more clothes in the bedroom, just grab whatever you what to wear home. I washed your clothes last night, and put them in the dryer, so I'll go get them. Your bags are still in the bathroom from where you left them last night, so I'll grab them too," he told them, although he was only looking at Clary. She quirked an eyebrow before turning around, and Izzy practically had her face shoved into the mug of coffee. Clary understood.

It was really good coffee.

Jace left the room, and as he walked away, Clary's eyes were on his ass again. She only looked away when he disappeared from view and she looked back at Izzy.

"I don't remember much of last night after the flaming shots," she stated and Izzy grinned.

"Before we went to sleep last night, you said you wanted to climb my cousin like a tree," she responded and Clary let out a laugh.

"Drunk Clary knows her shit," she replied and Izzy laughed again, rolling her eyes as she finished her coffee. "Coz he is pretty." She finished off her coffee as well and went into the kitchen, putting it in the sink.

Jace had brought their clothes out and put them on the table while Izzy and Clary were in his bedroom getting changed. Izzy tied one of the shirts up in a knot under her breasts to make it look a little more fitted, but Clary didn't bother.

She was comfortable in an oversized pair of Jace's sweatpants and the blue v-neck she had on with no bra, since she hadn't worn it with her dress last night.

Maybe she looked a little the trashy stoner in their apartment building, but she was cute, she could pull it off.

Jace had his jacket on when Clary and Izzy came back out, and he was running a hand through his hair, leaving it a little ruffled. Clary watched him from behind, and she couldn't help but think that his shoulders filled out the shoulders really well. He waited for them while holding open the front door, and locked the door behind them once they had gone through. His car was parked out the front and Clary let out a whistle.

"Nice," she murmured.

"You did the exact same thing last night," Jace noted as he opened the passenger side door and then pressed the lever that drew the seat forward so that Clary could climb in the back. Once she had, he moved the seat back and Isabelle got in the front.

On the way home, Clary caught Jace looking at her in the rearview mirror.

Not heaps, like some creepy guys on the bus, but just a couple of times like the hot senior with the big blue eyes last year who came into the photography lab.

When they got back to their apartment building, Jace waited as they got out of the car, and being out in the sun really started messing with Clary's head again, even after her morning coffee. She was pretty sure it was still really early, even though Jace had been all ready to go to work, but her phone was dead, so she couldn't check the time.

Maybe that was why Jace had a watch, she thought idly, in case his phone died.

But a guy who worked on a Sunday and washed and dried their clothes this morning, didn't seem like the kind of guy who would let his phone run out of charge.

"See you next time, Clary," Jace called out, and she blinked as she focused back on him.

"Next time," she gave a wiggle of her fingers and he smiled back, before indicating to pull out into the traffic and then accelerating away. Clary let out a sigh as she turned back to Izzy.

"I want to climb your cousin like a tree," she repeated her drunken testament, and Izzy snorted before grabbing her arm and pulling her into the apartment building.

She was _definitely_ going to be thinking about Jace later on tonight when her head wasn't so sore.

Still with the tie, but maybe without the rest of his clothes.

**Drop a review, let's chat x**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity  
****Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	2. Chapter 2

Mondays were the worst.

Tuesdays were only slightly better.

Wednesday actually wasn't bad because Clary only had classes until eleven thirty, and then she was out for the rest of the day. Sometimes she would pick up extra shifts at the photography lab, but that wasn't the case this week, so she just went back to her apartment, made herself some ramen and then sat down on one of the couches in the lounge.

It was an old couch, one that dipped down a little at the back given how many times Jordan Kyle had fallen asleep on it, but it was comfortable, and Clary finished her noodles and pulled one of the blankets from the back of the couch, and wrapped it around herself. The dip at the back of the couch made it cosier when snuggling down, because it felt as though the couch was trying to wrap her up, and so it wasn't to surprising when Clary fell asleep.

She didn't wake up until there was talking in the kitchen behind her, but even then, she didn't bother opening her eyes.

Jordan, Izzy and Simon had all seen her in worse states than drooling on the couch cushions, so she didn't rush to wake up.

Except when one of the voices distinctively did not sound like any of her room mates, she popped up, her hair messy around her head.

"Ah, she's awake!" Izzy teased from where she was sitting on top of the kitchen table. Next to her was...Her cousin. Jace. The gorgeous one. Clary struggled to sit up properly, shoving her hand through her hair and trying to tame it down.

Ick.

And she'd fallen asleep with her contacts in.

She blinked a couple of times and there wasn't much discomfort, so she ignored it.

"Hey!" Clary greeted them as she got up from the couch and straightened out the shirt she was wearing. "Welcome to our humble abode," she waved a hand around the living room and Jace gave her a crooked smile that was completely adorable. She joined Izzy on the table top and Jace raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a habit you guys are into? Sitting on tables rather than at them?" He asked.

"It's not like we ever really eat at the table," Izzy shrugged. And it was kind of clear that they didn't, because the table was covered in papers and magazines and Simon's laptop was there, and a bottle of water and half a pack of crisps that Clary was actually pretty sure had been there since last week, just none of them had cleared them away. "Jace wanted to know if we wanted to go to a basketball game with him, he got tickets through work."

"How many tickets?" Clary asked with a purse of her lips.

"Uh, a few," Jace replied.

"So Alec and Mags are coming?"

"Already invited them," Jace told her.

"Aw, so we were your _second_ stop then?" Clary teased lightly and Jace just smiled back at her, not appearing fazed by her flirting. "Enough for Jordan and Simon to come?"

"Yeah, that's no problem," Jace nodded and Clary was surprised. They were coming up to the finals of basketball season and tickets were expensive. Not that Clary knew much about basketball, she just liked going to have fun, but there had been some guys talking about it in one of the cafeteria's at college.

"Sounds fun," Izzy grinned and Jace smiled at both of them, but mainly at Clary.

It was _definitely_ mainly at her.

"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Clary asked impulsively.

"What's for dinner?" Jace asked curiously and Clary and Izzy glanced at each other.

"Well, if we have guests...Pizza," Izzy stated.

"And if you didn't have guests?" Jace arched an eyebrow.

"Leftover Chinese from last night," Clary shrugged. "And if there's not enough, we've got Froot Loops." Jace actually looked a little disgusted but also amused, and he didn't say anything. Izzy got off the table to see what else they had in the cupboards, and Jace started talking to her, and Clary just tilted her head to the side as she looked at Jace's profile.

He was wearing pressed slacks again, and damn, they did things to his ass.

She wasn't sure she was ever going to get over his ass.

Thank fuck he had moved into the city, and hopefully she would get to see a whole lot more of it.

"You guys don't have any fruit or vegetables in here," Jace noted as he looked over Izzy's shoulder and into the fridge. "You don't actually have much in here at all." Clary rolled her eyes, because Jace sounded like her mum. "Anyway, I actually have a meeting in about an hour that I need to get to, but rain check."

"You want a rain check on pizza and Froot Loops?" Clary teased lightly and Jace straightened up from where he had been looking in the fridge.

"Rain check on dinner with you, yes," he answered and Clary felt a squeeze in her stomach. Izzy looked between them with a smirk and then shut the door.

* * *

Clary looked pretty cute in her outfit, if she did say so herself. A crop top and jeans, her hair in double Dutch braids over each of her shoulders and a cap on her head. Simon was the only one of them that had a car, so he drove them close to the venue and then they parked and caught the bus the rest of the way so that they didn't get trapped in too much traffic. Magnus Bane and Alexander Lightwood were meeting them there with Jace, who had the tickets, and Clary didn't have a choice but to just grip Izzy's hand and let her friend drag her through the crowds of people because she was tiny and she couldn't see much in the crowds of people.

"There they are!" Jordan called out over his shoulder and Izzy and Clary followed after him, Simon just behind them. Clary saw Magnus first, and she let go of Izzy's hand to throw her arms around the Indonesian man. He laughed as he gave her a squeeze.

"Hey, biscuit!" He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. When she pulled away, she saw Alec behind him, and then Jace.

Looking a whole goddamn snack.

She stepped back so that Magnus could hug Izzy and the others, and then stepped forward to hug Alec and then grin up at Jace.

"Good seeing you again," she told him and he smiled back at her, not saying anything. He was introduced to Simon and Jordan and then they joined the queues that were heading into the venue. Part of Clary wanted to be standing next to Jace, maybe see if she could bump up alongside him a couple of times, but then Izzy grabbed her hand and Magnus was on the other side and she got swept up in the energetic buzz. Izzy wanted to get food, which was going to completely blow her food budget for the entire week, and Clary figured she could just steal from the others if they chose to get food as well.

The seats were pretty good. They weren't courtside, but they were close.

"So do you actually know what's going on here?" Clary whispered to Magnus and he grinned and threw an arm around her.

"I'm just here to watch the beautiful, sweaty men run around in tiny shorts," he replied and Clary laughed and nudged him in the side with her elbow, wiggling her eyebrows in agreement.

She actually forgot about the fact that Jace was only a few seats over, getting swept up in the crowd and the game that she wasn't actually following but was more than happy to stand up and scream with when their team scored. Izzy was on one side and Magnus was on the other, and she always had a good time when she was with them. They were all sort of on the same level, and they kind of vibed off each other.

It was at half time that their group all kind of shuffled a little. Simon and Magnus needed to go to the bathroom, Izzy had managed to talk Alec into buying her something else to eat, so they wandered off, which just left Jace, Clary and Jordan.

Jordan was completely absorbed in his phone, probably in another fight with his boyfriend, because that happened a lot, so Clary turned to Jace, tipping her head to the side and blinking her long eyelashes at him, wetting her lips with her tongue.

He noticed.

She saw the way his eyes fixed on hers, then on her mouth, before lifting back up again.

Clary patted the seat next to her and Jace let out a short laugh before moving over to sit in the seat next to her. He was dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a light blue v-neck short sleeved shirt that clung to his biceps and showed off his slim waist. There were a pair of sunglasses in his hair and Clary reached up and plucked them off his head, studying them.

"Do you think...If I sold this pair of glasses..." she began with a little smirk. "That I could pay the rent for the month?" She arched an eyebrow at him and Jace rolled his eyes, giving her a _look_, but he didn't try to take the glasses back.

"I don't think the _whole_ month," Jace replied and Clary grinned.

"But at least _part_ of the month?" She said knowingly as she turned the glasses to the side and caught a glimpse of a little gold scrawl on the inside. "These are Cartier?" She asked, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head.

She had thought they would be expensive.

But she imagined that Cartier would be even more.

"Shit," she whistled through her teeth, and then slipped the sunglasses up her nose. Jace watched her, smiling, and Clary took in a deep breath, savouring the moment. "This will undoubtedly be the most expensive item I will ever wear, so I just want to enjoy it." Jace let out a laugh, and tipped his head toward her.

"They look good on you," he said and Clary grinned.

"Damn right they do," she responded, and Jace looked a little surprised by that and he let out another laugh. From the way that Clary was now sitting, turned so that she was facing toward Jace, their knees were pressed together. Clary was _very_ aware of the warmth against her leg, and she moved slightly forward in the seat, just so they were pressed more firmly together. Jace seemed to notice, but he didn't say anything. "So...Are you super into basketball? Is that why you have these seats?"

"No, I got offered the tickets from a friend," Jace shrugged. "He's a client as well, so these were thrown in with a job that we're doing for him at the moment."

"Shit," Clary's eyes widened behind the sunglasses that she was seriously considering stealing. But...Not to sell and pay her rent. Just to keep. "I should get into your line of business." Jace grimaced a little, and then he leaned forward and slid the glasses down her nose. But he didn't take them off her, just pushed them up so that they were on top of her head, and she was glad that she had taken her cap off, because Jace's fingers brushed over one of her braids, touching the curve of her ear before letting his hand fall back to his side.

"No, you shouldn't," he replied. "You would be wasted in a place like mine."

"You don't enjoy what you do?" Clary asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, _I_ do. But it's my company. I get to choose what I work on, delegate the rest. You deserve to work on something that you're passionate about," he told her and Clary couldn't stop her smile. Although it wasn't as big and flirty as her other ones, it was smaller, because that sentiment had just sounded...Really nice. "So what are you studying?"

"Photography," Clary told him. "Minoring in art history."

"Nice," Jace smiled at her. "Are you good at it?"

"_Yes_," Clary narrowed her eyes slightly, as though taking offence, and Jace let out a laugh.

"I was just asking!" He protested lightly, still laughing, but holding his hands up, palm outwards, showing that he didn't mean to offend. Clary's forehead smoothed out, her eyes not narrow anymore, rolling them at him. She was about to reply when people around them suddenly started talking louder and turning around to look at them. Clary frowned, and Jace glanced around, before they realized why the attention of practically the _entire_ arena was on them.

The Kiss Cam.

"Oh god," Clary let out a laugh, her cheeks warming up as she stared up a the screens with her face and Jace's plastered over them, red love hearts surrounding them. She looked toward Jace, who was just grinning at her, eyes dancing. She could vaguely hear the commentators cheering them on, but her entire focus was on Jace and his mouth. He was saying something as well, but she couldn't actually hear, and so...She just leaned in.

Jace's mouth was soft against hers, but they were firm, and within a second, his hand had come up and was cupping her face, his thumb against her cheek and his fingers reached out for her jaw, gently but firmly holding her in place. Clary's whole body felt as though it was melting into Jace as his tongue pressed against her lips and his head tilted to the side, making the angle better. As his tongue touched Clary's, she shivered and one of her hands moved to rest on his his knee, her fingers curling into the denim, and the tip of his tongue flicked against the roof of her mouth. His kiss wasn't controlling, but it was definitely _in_ control.

Her eyes were bleary when they pulled apart, and she took in a sharp breath through her nose.

Jace wasn't smiling, and he wasn't frowning, his face was just soft, and he leaned forward to press a last kiss against the tip of her nose.

It was endearing and so fucking cute, and Clary didn't even know how to respond.

His hand moved from her face and he looked back up at the screen to see that it had moved onto it's next victims. Jordan had seen the kiss and was grinning at them and when Clary lifted her head, she saw Simon and Magnus coming back. Magnus raised his eyebrow at the fact that Jace was now in his seat, but he didn't say anything. When Isabelle and Alec had gotten back, Alec had brought two extra lots of curly fries and Clary cheered, reaching past Jace to snag the cardboard box and shoved her hand into it.

"You want some?" Clary asked as half was finished, holding the fries up in front of Jace's face. He looked at them, and she _swore_ that she could see in his face that she wanted some, but he shook his head.

"No, I'm good, thanks," Jace replied with a small smile. Clary nodded and quickly looked away, feeling something like a lump in her throat, and it wasn't the curly fries, but she shoved some more into her mouth to distract her.

Jace was a good kisser.

Of course he was.

He _looked_ like he was a good kisser.

Clary hadn't been following the game very closely _anyway_, but now she was paying even less attention than she had in the first half. She practically shoveled the fries into her mouth to keep her hands busy, and once she was finished, her fingers bounced against her knees, nervous energy racing through her body. She cheered when the rest of her friends did and she looked at the particularly cute guy on the court with curly hair when Magnus reached over and jabbed her in the shoulder, pointing at the guy. Jace got into the game, he twitched and jumped and cheered with actual purpose, rather than just following the crowd, and it was...Attractive to watch.

Plus, there was one time where he actually jumped to his feet and fist pumped the air and his sleeves got really tight around his biceps.

That was nice.

After the game finished, there was practically a stampede to get out of the arena. Izzy grabbed Clary's hand, fingers curling around hers so that they didn't loose one another in the crowd, and Simon and Jace walked behind the girls, sheltering them from at least part of the pushing people. At one stage, Clary felt a hand against her hip, and she knew it was Jace, even though she didn't turn around to look.

"Alright," Alec stopped once they were outside, and found a small spot where they weren't getting pushed around against the wall. "We're heading that way," Alec nodded his head to the right.

"Our stop is back that way," Simon jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the other direction. Alec nodded, leaning in to give his sister a hug goodbye, and then Clary. Jace held back, a small smile on his face, and it was definitely directed at Clary. She felt strangely subdued, which was unusual for her, but her insides were in knots, and her lips were still tingling and that place where he had touched her hip felt as though he had left a brand against her skin. He didn't hug her goodbye, which she was hoping for, but she waved at him and he gave her this small smile that felt weirdly intimate, even though they were in a big crowd of people.

"Didn't know you had a thing for older guys," Jordan commented with a grin on the bus back to where they were parked.

"Everyone's into older guys," Izzy replied, not looking up from her phone and Jordan raised an eyebrow before looking at Clary.

"Even when the older guy is your cousin?" Jordan prompted and Simon frowned, looking between Izzy and Clary and then Izzy's head came up.

"What?"

"I meant Clary," Jordan grinned. "Clary's into older guys." Izzy glanced at her best friend and shrugged. "And the older guy is your cousin," he reiterated, and Izzy's lips parted.

"_What_?" She repeated.

"It was just the Kiss Cam," Clary reasoned but Izzy's grin was spreading across her face.

"You kissed my cousin?" She asked.

"It was the Kiss Cam!" Clary protested again and Izzy let out a laugh.

"Nice. You _did _say you were checking him out. And I saw you guys the other day in the apartment, giving each other weird eyes," Izzy was still grinning, so that was a good sign. "Anyway, you're a massive step up from his ex, even if it was just a kiss," she nudged Clary in the side before looking back down at her phone. Simon and Jordan got distracted by something outside and started talking, and Clary licked her lips quickly before pushing her hair behind her ear.

"His ex?" She said, feigning nonchalance.

"Yeah, she was a bitch," Izzy replied, eyes still on her phone. "Like, I can see why they got together, because he can be fucking uptight as well, but she was worse," she finally looked up, screwing up her nose. "There was one Christmas when she got angry that Jace wouldn't take a call at dinner, because it was apparently some big firm in China that he was working with. She kept saying it was such a big deal and he should just take the call, and then she got pissy when he stayed at the table."

"Eesh," Clary made a face.

"Yeah," Izzy shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know why they were together so long, but he's out now, so that's all that matters. He's not seeing anyone, as far as I know."

Well...At least she knew for certain that he was single.

Or at least, as far as Izzy knew, and that was a lot, to be fair.

She would keep that in mind.

**I don't really have the energy for a paragraph thing sorry. I've been fucking spiraling for the past six weeks or so, although I guess I had my birthday? Which was okay?**

**Um..._Nightmare _by Halsey is a fucking anthem and I don't know how many times I've listened and cried to it in the past day and half it's been out.**

**Hope you enjoyed the update.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Merp, I've kinda lost track of my updating schedule? *Throws updates and internet cookies***

Usually waking up on a Tuesday was pretty shit. It was only a little bit better than a Monday, and really not by much, because her first class was at nine, whereas her Monday class was at eight-thirty, and Monday was also _Monday_, so it was automatically worse than every other day of the week.

But this particular Tuesday, she woke up with a text from an unknown number.

Clary tapped her thumb against the side of her phone, looking down at the message on her screen. It was a simple message, with a simple question, and it was something that she had been asked a hundred times before and she wasn't sure why it was making her stomach do back flips and her heart beat faster in her chest.

**_Hi, Clary. It's Jace. I really enjoyed spending time with you the other day. Did you want to go out for coffee?_**

It had all the proper punctuation and everything in it, and Clary wasn't even the slightest bit surprised. She spelled out everything correctly now, given her iPhone's auto-correct, so it wasn't like high school and her old phone when everything was short hand and pretty tacky, if she did say so herself, but she didn't generally add commas and everything into her texts.

Her reply was simple though, didn't require punctuation.

_YES_

She licked her tongue over her lips, wiggled around on her mattress for a few minutes while she waited for a reply, and then lost patience and threw back her blankets, getting out of bed and feeling stupidly energetic for eight o'clock in the morning. She threw on a pair of jeans and a bright pink singlet and then looked around for her hair brush. Clary grabbed her phone and shoved it into one of her pockets and then left her room, going into Isabelle's room next door, which was still dark and Isabelle was still motionless in her bed.

"Iz! Move your ass! And I need to use your brush!" Clary didn't bother trying to keep noise down as she tripped over a pair of high heels in the middle of the floor, and then Isabelle's fucking laptop, because she always left it charging, strewn across the floor. She'd already had to replace two chargers already from them being broken when tripped over and ripped out of the laptop or wall at awkward angles. Clary managed to find Isabelle's hair brush in the mess on top of her drawer and then she turned to look at Isabelle.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays they went into uni together, so Isabelle should be getting up around now. Clary smirked and jumped onto the bed, shaking her arms and legs and Isabelle finally made a noise, groaning and trying to get her arms out from where Clary had them pinned at her side.

"Why the _fuck_ do you have so much energy?" Isabelle groaned, her voice choked with sleep. "Get the _fuck_ off me!" Clary grinned and just shook the bed some more. "Oh my god—okay, I'm awake! Fucking hell, just get _off_!" Clary flopped to the side, laying between Isabelle and the wall, and pulled her phone out again.

Still no texts back.

It had been about all of fifteen minutes, but...She was still impatient.

"I've got a date," Clary whispered.

"Good for you," Isabelle muttered, not sounding like she wanted to discuss it.

"You wanna know who with?" Clary asked.

"Don't give a shit," Isabelle grunted and Clary rolled her eyes.

"I'll let you have the last muffin in the cupboard if you pay me attention," Clary poked Isabelle in the side, through the blankets and Isabelle grumbled again, but she poked her head out from underneath her blankets and looked over at Clary with narrow eyes.

"Go and get me the muffin first, _then_ I'll pay you attention," she bargained roughly and Clary grinned.

"Deal."

* * *

Clary didn't get a reply from Jace in her first class, or when she was in the photography lab until lunch, or when she was rushing to eat the pizza slice she had picked up from one of the cafeteria, or in her next two classes. It wasn't until she wasn't heading back to the photography lab, this time for her shift, that her phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her pocket and it was actually a text from the person that she had been waiting for.

**_Sorry, Clary. Todays been crazy. I was going to ask if you wanted to meet up today, but it's a bit late now. Does tomorrow work?_**

Clary pouted as she looked down at her phone, because she would have made today work. She had work now, but it was only until seven, that left the whole evening ahead. It wasn't unusual for them to go out drinking or to an impromptu party or even just to a late movie and then dinner with friends afterward that meant they didn't get back to their apartment until two in the morning. She didn't care how late it meant they went and got this coffee, she just wanted it to happen.

But Jace was...Like, a proper adult, and he worked full time, and on a _Sunday_, so he probably had, like, a nine o'clock bed time or something.

_Perf. You wanna meet up somewhere or..._

Clary reached the lab and tugged open the door, grinning over at Helen Blackthorn who was already there. Helen rolled her eyes from where she was helping one of the freshman students, and had probably been there for a while, judging by the exasperated look on her face. On Tuesday, Helen and Clary's shift overlapped by a few hours, which was one of the best shifts of Clary's week. As she was putting her bag down behind one of the desks and pulling out her old laptop, her phone vibrated again.

**_I have a meeting until twelve-thirty. I could pick you up around one? Or if you wanted to meet me at my office at twelve-thirty, that works as well._**

Clary bit down on her lower lip as she thought about it. On one hand, she would one hundred and ten percent be down for Jace picking her up in that beautiful car that she had only been in twice, once when drunk and the other while hungover, she would also be interested to see where Jace worked. And it meant that she would be able to see him earlier, because she could leave straight after classes, which finished at eleven-thirty for her, and go straight to his office.

_I'll come to you. What's your address_

Another reply came within a couple of minutes and Clary typed it into a Safari page and noted that she was actually pretty sure where the building itself was, so that wouldn't be too hard to find. Then another message came through.

**_Are you in class?_**

Clary tapped out a reply.

_Nah at work now_

**_Where do you work?_**

_At the photography lab on campus. Means I get first dibs on reserving the good photo lights and dark room time so it's good_

**_Don't you have your own photo lights?_**

_Nah. Too expensive. Got some cheap ones I use when I can't get the good ones but they're getting old. Saving up for some new ones but I'll probably need to get a new laptop first_

It wasn't like she _needed_ new photo lights when she could reserve them for use through the photo lab, and like she had just said to Jace, working at the lab meant that she could write her name down in the slots to reserve the lights whenever she needed them. But her laptop was still the same one that she had been using since she was in high school, and it hadn't even been new _then_. It was starting to glitch a bit, and it had slowed all the way down in the past couple of months and now she was using Jordan and Isabelle's when she could to run her editing program.

**_Isn't a good laptop gold to college students?_**

_Unfortunately this college student don't got gold to get a good laptop_

"I swear to god," Helen groaned as she came over to where Clary was sitting. "I'm gonna fucking kill the next freshman who doesn't know how to install shit on their laptop. That's not _our_ job. That's, like, IT's or something." Clary made a face, because it was something that they dealt with a lot. "Anyway, who are you texting you? You're smiling like a dick."

"Aren't you fucking lovely?" Clary grunted and jabbed her elbow into Helen's side and the blonde grinned. She looked back down at her phone but there weren't any more messages from Jace, so she put her phone on the desk and pushed it away. "Did you want to go out this weekend? I think we're gonna go out on Friday night."

"Ooh, yeah, I'm in," Helen wiggled her eyebrows. "As long as there's no flaming shots. I'm pretty sure you were half a second off being comatose the other night we went out." Clary made a face and Helen grinned, before her own phone went off, and the blonde looked down. Her grin shifted to a softer smile and Clary raised an eyebrow enquiringly.

"Who's that?" She sung out, nudging Helen's arm. "Another one of your _dates_?" Helen didn't just work at the photography lab. She also went out on, delicately putting it, _dates_ with older people. She was a_ Sugar Baby_, as she put it. Clary found the whole thing fascinating, but while the money appealed to her, she honestly didn't think she was the type of person who could feign interest in someone that she really didn't want to spend time with. But Helen was sweet and funny and apparently she was good at what she did because she always had people messaging her, and she went out a couple nights a week, from what Clary knew.

The money wasn't just for her, though, like Clary's money was. Helen's mother had died a couple of years ago, after being sick for some time, and had left behind her father and Helen and six younger siblings. A lot of the money that Helen had earned, she sent back to her father to help with the hospital bills they were still paying off, or toward school fees and clothes for her siblings.

"Kind of," Helen made a face as she looked up, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips as she thought. "I mean, yeah, she is, but...I think I really like her as well." Helen was bisexual, so her dates varied between men and woman, but all of the people that she had actually had relationships with that Clary had known about had been with girls.

"Isn't there, like, rules against that kind of thing?" Clary arched an eyebrow.

"There aren't really any rules, other than the ones that you set for yourself," Helen shrugged a shoulder as she tapped out a reply to the woman who had messaged her. "It's not like I go through an agency or anything." Clary knew _that_ for a fact, because there had been one very messy date that Clary and Jordan had ended up having to go and pick her up, because he had shoved her against the wall and slapped her across the face, and from then Helen just started doing more thorough vetting. She'd been doing it for nearly two years now, so she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Wouldn't it be kind of weird? I don't know, actually dating someone who basically pays you for sex?" Clary tipped her head to the side and turned around on the wheely chair she had sat down in. Helen gave her a narrow eyed look and Clary rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, they pay you for companionship or whatever, but I've seen the photos you send them and the amount of condoms you keep in your drawers at home, so we all know there's sex involved." Helen rolled her eyes again, but the edges of her lips were pulling upward in a smile, to show that she wasn't offended. "Just...Wouldn't it feel like you owe her or something? Like if you start an actual relationship?"

"I don't think so," Helen really didn't look bothered as she shrugged again and then looked back at her phone. "I mean, she has money and she likes spending it on me. Nothing wrong with that, right?" Clary hummed in agreement.

"You know, if there wasn't the whole fact that half the people you've gone out with are boring as hell—no offence—I would so get into it. I'd love to have someone buy me expensive things and tell me I have a pretty face," she said and Helen let out a laugh.

"Yeah, riding on that no offence train, babe—you don't even have a poker face when we're playing poker and your literal rent money for next week is on the table, I doubt you're gonna be able to do it when a man named Barry is telling you about his third ex-wife and why he only gets to see his kids on Christmas," Helen laughed. Clary snorted.

"Okay—to be fair!" She held up a finger as Helen kept on laughing. "_Maybe_ I gambled with my rent money, but at least I still managed to cover my portion of the rent next week! I'm responsible like that!"

"Only because of your sock money," Helen pointed out.

"But what else is sock money for?" Clary retorted and Helen nodded.

* * *

Clary had almost finished her shift when she got another message from Jace. She couldn't stop her smile. She had considered assaulting his inbox with incessant messages, demanding that he reply to her like she did with literally everyone else she text, including her mum and step-dad, but she figured that they really didn't know each other well enough at that point so maybe she shouldn't jump right down to the thirty messages in a row straight away.

**_Sorry, Clary. Was in a meeting. What type of laptop do you use now?_**

Clary screwed up her nose, because she didn't want to talk about her shitty old laptop, which was covered in stickers that she had collected over the years, the main big one on the front of Harry Styles with a pink flower crown.

_Eh just some old one. Why are you still in meeting?! It's LATE_

Then she had to remind herself that this had been the guy who had gone to work on a _Sunday_, so it really shouldn't surprise her that he had work meetings until seven at night. She packed up her laptop and the papers that she had been working on and moved around the photo lab, making sure everything had been packed away after the last guy had been there after ten minutes ago. The hours changed, depending on how many people needed to use the lab, but at the moment, seven o'clock was when they were closing up, so it took Clary a little longer to make sure everything was shut off before she left the room and locked the door behind her. As she walked down the long, empty hall and pulled out her phone again, her heart beat a little faster when she saw that she had _two_ texts.

**_All part of the charm of running a business. Haha._**

**_What are you doing tonight?_**

That sounded...Well, when Clary got messages like that from Michael Denton or Ryan Arnold, it was because they wanted to know if she wanted to hook up. But she had a feeling that Jace was classier than that, so she didn't reply with one of her saved tit pics that she had on file—only for when she was feeling frisky. Michael was kind of a dick and Ryan talked more than she liked, so more than half the time, she turned down their texts, either with a simple '_Busy_' or just not even replying, but when she was feeling into it, she answered with the tit pics.

She wondered what Jace would say if she sent one to him.

And then she started wondering when the last time she had taken one, because she was pretty sure she had only had one nipple piercing the last time she had taken some semi-artistically shadowy selfies of her chest, some of them even featuring some lip biting, although none actually showing her whole face. She had another piercing in her nipples, one in each of them now, not just in the left one.

Maybe she needed to update them.

_Just finished work. Going home. Si and Iz will be at work so I'll probably piss off Jordan until he makes me dinner_

**_You don't cook?_**

Clary narrowed her eyes at that. She liked the quick reply, but she didn't like the assumption.

_I cook!_

_I'm a bloody good cook!_

She was partway through her next text when a response came.

**_That wasn't mean to be an insult! Sorry if it came off that way! It was just meant to be a question. I didn't really learn to cook until after college, and even then, I pretty much lived on take out. I mean, even now I pretty much live on take out._**

It kind of sounded like he was panicking, which...Was kind of cute. So Clary back spaced on the text that she had been typing out, which had been emphasizing again that she was a damn good cook and she cooked for the flatmates at least twice a week, but she worked late on Tuesdays, and Jordan didn't work until Friday, so why shouldn't he be the one making her dinner? She jogged down the steps of the front of the building, and it was dark outside, since it was after seven and they weren't in summer anymore, and she wondered what she should text back. But then she got another text, and she saw that it was a picture. She tapped it open.

It was a picture of two empty Chinese cartons on what looked like an impeccably tidy desk.

**_Dinner tonight._**

Clary smiled.

_I'll cook for you sometime if you cook for me?_

She didn't have to wait long for a reply.

**_Deal._**

If it had been some guy from college, he would definitely added the emoji with the winky face. She kind of wished that he _had_ added a winky face, it was so much easier to read situations with emojis were involved.

Then again, he had asked her out for coffee, so that sounded like date material.

No.

It was _definitely_ a date.

Fuck yeah, it was a date.

She had a coffee date with a cute older guy who hadn't cared that she had stolen his one and a half grand Cartier sunglasses.

Plus, she got to make out with him a little the other day, so that was pretty hot.

It only took her fifteen minutes to walk back to her flat, especially since she was kind of doing this half skip kind of thing, feeling kind of dizzy as she kept replaying in her head that _she had a date with Jace_. There were quite a few people out on the streets, which was normal for the busy Los Angeles street. When she got back to the apartment, there was only the kitchen light on, the lounge all dark other than the light coming from their TV. Jordan was camped out on the couch, the blanket from the back of the couch draped loosely over his shoulders as he jammed his fingers down on the blue controller in his hand, and he tipped his head back to look over his shoulder as she walked in.

"Hey, cutie," Jordan called out to her.

"Hey, babes," Clary grinned, dumping down her bag and laptop on the kitchen table before walking over the couch, jumping over the back of the couch and practically landing on Jordan's lap. He elbowed her in the side and then shuffled around to push her away, and she settled down next to him with a smile. "Hey, Jord. Jord...Jord," she poked him with her finger, jabbing his knee.

"Your dinner is in the fridge. I made pasta," Jordan grinned. Clary smirked, leaning forward and smacking a kiss against his cheek before getting up to find her dinner.

**So songs I recommend are _I Think I'm OKAY_ by MGK, Yungblud and Travis Baker, which I absolutely adore, and the song and especially the music video give me intense early 2000's feels, and _Lost_ by Dermont Kennedy, which is so damn beautiful, I've completely fallen in love with it. Also _Lost Without You_ by Freya Ridlings, which was sent to me by _Reppinda5o3_ and is completely heart breaking. Umm...I can't really think of many movies and TV series I've been watching lately. Sorry :( **

**Okay, so, questions; what's your lockscreen/homescreen/blah blah blah? My lockscreen is Dominic Harrison and my homescreen is Demi Lovato, both total babes.**

**Umm...What are you go-to feel good movies? Mine are—not in any type of order—_Princess Bride, The Swan Princess, Stardust, Spirit _and_ Frozen_. Lol. Not even sorry. I think_ Catch and Release_ might be working its way onto this list as well. **

**...'_Please tell me I'm your one and only/Or lie and say at least tonight/I've got a brand new cure for lonely/And if you give me what I want/Then I'll give you what you like_'...**

**xxxxxxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter, beautiful people!**

Clary didn't have to get up as early as she had the past two days, because her class wasn't until nine, but she did anyway, to do her make up a little more carefully than the sloppy eyeliner she would usually put on and went with a darker lipstick, something purple that had probably been Isabelle's at some point, and then she let her fingers rest on the Cartier sunglasses that were on top of her dresser, in front of her mirror. After a moment, she picked them up and tucked one arm in the front of the grey and white shirt she was wearing and then left the apartment. She didn't go to college with Isabelle on Wednesday's, she went with Simon, and he was always up early and even had a coffee in a semi-clean mug which made him the most accomplished adult in their flat.

"Shit," Simon raised his eyebrows when he saw her walking him with her laptop bag over one shoulder and her messenger bag over the other.

"What?" Clary made a face at him, because she had been up for an extra fucking forty-five minutes this morning and he was looking at her as though she'd gotten mascara all over the bridge of her nose.

"Uh—you don't usually wear so much make up," Simon shrugged. "But, whatever, you look good."

"Fuck yeah I do," Clary retorted, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek and leaving a perfect dark purple lipstick mark behind.

* * *

Clary bused onto the other side of town where the building address Jace gave her was, and then had to walk the other fifteen minutes by foot. It was fine, because it was a nice day, so she slid Jace's sunglasses on, and when she caught her reflection in a passing shops glass, she was glad to see that she didn't look like a total dickhead with the glasses way too big for her face. They just kind of looked a _little_ too big, and it sort of went with her whole outfits vibe, with her hair all curly and loose, pushed back from her face by a black band with a bow, her loose grey and white shirt and ripped skinny jeans. They were the _good_ ripped skinny jeans as well, they'd actually been brought ripped, not the ones that she had that were just so old and worn that they _had_ ripped. She had thought about wearing her glasses today, instead of her contacts, but then she wouldn't have been able to wear Jace's sunglasses, and she _really_ wanted to wear those.

She got to the building and scrunched up her nose as she looked up, noting that it was taller than the buildings on either side, although one on the opposite side of the street was taller. That was an apartment building, though, so Clary wasn't sure that it counted. She went inside and the main lobby had a receptionist behind a desk, two security guards, a line of elevators and at the far side there was a wide flight of stairs. It was all white and glass and clean and there was a plant that looked like it was watered regularly and her eyebrows arched before she approached the desk.

"Hello. How can I help you?" The woman behind the counter asked, a polite smile on her face, and a blank look in her eyes, similar to the one Helen got when she was really hungry and she had to be polite to people in the photography lab. Clary took the sunglasses off and hooked them back into the neckline of her shirt again.

"I'm..." Clary looked back down at her phone, at the address that Jace gave her. "Here for Idris Communications? Floor twenty-nine?" The woman arched an eyebrow and looked over at the security guard, and Clary was beginning to wonder if maybe she was just going to need to call Jace to come down, but then she nodded and pointed to the elevator closest to her. "Thanks!" Clary flashed her a smile, but the woman had already lost interest, going back to her computer. Clary stepped into the elevator and then stopped short.

There was a plant in the fucking elevator.

Magnus had given Clary a plant for her twentieth birthday, telling her that it would teach her responsibility.

It had died three weeks after he'd given it to her.

The doors made a loud _pinging_ noise and slid back open again and Clary made a face as she realized that she had literally just been standing there and not moving, just looking at the plant, and the elevator doors had both closed and then re-opened since she had been there. She couldn't help put poke her head back out, and the receptionist was staring directly at her.

Judging her.

Clary ducked back inside and jabbed her finger on the button for the twenty-ninth floor and stared at the plant as she whizzed upwards. At least there wasn't elevator music.

That stuff was shit.

She tilted her head to the side and reached out to touch one of the leaves, wondering if maybe the plant was a fake. She dug her finger in, trying to scratch away at the surface, and she was pretty sure it _wasn't_ plastic when all of a sudden the doors slid open again and she tried to whip her hand away, but she also didn't really loosen her grip so she sort of...Pulled the whole branch with her and tore off the leaf.

"Oops," Clary muttered, giggling before skipping out of the elevator and dropping the leaf on the ground. This floor seemed a lot more security conscious, opening up to only one room, with sturdy frosted glass doors on either side. She walked up to the desk, and the girl behind it was younger than the woman downstairs, and rather than just looking a _little_ judgy, she looked exactly the girls in high school that Clary went out of her way to avoid like the fucking plague.

"Can I help you?" The girl asked, and Clary was pretty sure she was about half a second away from popping bubblegum and dying tacky bright coloured streaks in her hair, _that's_ how similar she was to the girls back in high school.

"I'm here to see Jace," Clary said, trying to sound totally even and not as though she was intimidated by the girl. She had highlighted blonde hair, and it looked as though it was _properly_ highlighted, not the home jobs that Clary and Isabelle would have Magnus do on them. And while Magnus did an amazing job, she wasn't trying to insult his expertise at all—the other girls hair looked flawless. So did her make up. And Clary was guessing her clothes were too.

"Jace?" The girl looked as though she was trying not to smile. "Mr Herondale?" Clary shrugged a shoulder as she realized that she didn't actually know his name. "Is he expecting you?" Clary nodded and the girl still didn't look as though she believed her but she leaned forward and picked up a phone, pressing a few buttons. "Hello, Ms Roberts? This is Heidi, at the front desk," _Heidi's_ voice changed remarkably from her conversation with Clary to her conversation with whoever it was on the other end of the phone. "I've got somewhere here to see Mr Herondale." She looked Clary up and down, clearly holding a degree in Looking Down Her Nose At Someone While Sitting Down and Clary sighed, pulling out her phone, sending a text off to Jace.

_I'm at the front desk_

She looked back at Heidi, who was hanging up the phone, a small smile on her face, one that could come off as polite if someone as came along, but one that they both knew was snarky and self-satisfied.

"Sorry, but Mr Herondale is busy—"

"Shit, Clary, sorry!" Jace suddenly appeared, his cheeks a little flushed and Clary grinned blindingly at him. She had literally _just_ text him. He must have run from wherever he had been the instant he had gotten the message.

That made a girl feel good, she had to admit.

"My meeting was running late," he began and Clary looked down at her phone, and saw that it was only just going quarter on one, so his meeting hadn't actually run _that_ late. "I'm just going to go and grab my jacket, okay? You alright with waiting here?" Clary couldn't help but look back over at Heidi, whose eyes were now wide and her pretty pink and likely botoxed lips were parted as she watched the exchanged.

"Sure," Clary smiled, looking back up at Jace. "I can wait right here." Jace didn't look as though he had noticed her glance because he just smiled and started to back away, before stopping and pointing just below her chin.

"Those my glasses?" He asked her, his lips tipping up in the corners.

"Sure are, boo," Clary grinned, purposefully pulling them out from her shirt and slipping them on, not even caring that they were inside. Jace didn't seem to care either, because his smile just stretched and then he was walking away quickly, disappearing back down the hall behind the desk. Clary turned her full attention back to Heidi, who seemed all of a sudden completely engrossed in her computer screen. Jace didn't take long before he was coming back, now wearing a jacket, and he looked good.

_Damn_ good.

His suit fit him perfectly, as though it was made for him, not just brought off the rack, and his hair was pushed back, looking a little styled but not overly done and when the cuff of his jacket and shirt slipped up a bit, she saw that expensive watch on his wrist again.

"There's a place just down the block that we can go to?" Jace said as he reached past her to press the button for the elevator. "We can go get coffee and lunch?"

"Oh my god," Clary groaned and then bounced up a little. "I haven't eaten today. I'm so down for lunch." Jace's eyebrows flew up.

"You haven't eaten today?" He asked, and he actually sounded concerned, kind of like how Luke Garroway sounded when he heard that her laptop still made weird beeping noises and occasionally just shut down completely and then she said that she _still_ hadn't taken it into the colleges IT department. She just...Kept forgetting and it worked fine most of the time.

"Nah, Izzy ate the last muffin yesterday, Simon ate the last slices of bread for dinner last night and we had a tin of peaches but I couldn't find the can opener," Clary shrugged a shoulder as the elevator door. Jace was still looking at her, eyebrows all worried and she pursed her lips together, wondering what was wrong. "It's okay, I had pasta for dinner last night. Carbs take up a lot of room," she patted her stomach as they stepped into the elevator, Jace waiting for her to get in first. There was another man in a suit walking toward the elevator, but when he saw Jace get inside, he stopped kind of awkwardly, not getting inside. Clary raised an eyebrow, but then he was pressing the button to go to the ground floor and the doors were closing.

"Where's your can opener?" Jace asked.

"Huh?" Clary made a face as she looked at him, adjusting the glasses on her face, needing to push them back up her nose since they were a bit too big for her.

"You said that you couldn't find your can opener," Jace replied slowly, looking confused.

"Oh!" Clary grinned at him before shrugging again. "I don't know. I didn't find it. I mean, sometimes Jordan and his boyfriend do weird sex things and our kitchen stuff goes missing." Jace actually looked kinda horrified at that and Clary couldn't help but laugh. The elevator doors opened and they were on the ground floor and he held out his arm, indicating that she get off first. The woman behind the desk looked up as they went past, but Clary just ignored her. When they got out onto the busy street, Jace took a pair of sunglasses out of the breast pocket of his suit jacket—_another_ pair of Cartier ones—and slipped them on.

"This way," he nodded to the side, and then he lifted his hand from his side and pressed it gently to her lower back to guide her forward and to the left. It wasn't a firm hand, in fact there wasn't much pressure _at all_ unfortunately, just enough for Clary to know that it was there, and she liked it. She kind of wanted to press up back against it, but she didn't.

They walked through the busy crowds, not talking because unless you were willing to raise your voice or stand really close together, it was hard to have a conversation over the buzz of noise around them.

Clary and Izzy made it work, and so did she and Simon, but Jace seemed kind of classy to do that, plus he was looking around at the shop windows and then down at his phone, which was in the hand that _wasn't_ currently touching Clary.

She'd be down for both of them touching her.

And neither of them on her back.

Or, in particular positions, one _could_ be splayed on her back while the other is gripping her hip and he's behind her or maybe holding her up against a wall—

"Here it is," Jace said and Clary was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up at the little cafe on the corner of the block. It wasn't a Starbucks, but it didn't look a little mum-and-pop place that was within her budget, which meant it was probably a bit _out_ of her budget. Especially since she didn't get paid until tomorrow night, and they might need to put more money into the pringles can so that they could buy another can opener, which was dumb, because Clary hated their money going to stupid stuff like that.

She knew it wasn't recommended, but she wondered if she could open the can of peaches for dinner tonight with the only sharp knife they had in the apartment.

"Get whatever you want," Jace was saying, and his hand dropped from her back, which was disappointing, and he finished up with whatever it was he was doing on his phone, pressing the button on the side to turn off the screen and his other hand dropped to his side as well.

"Ooh, you're paying?" Clary grinned up at Jace as she pushed the sunglasses up on top of her head. "Well, that changes things."

"You weren't going to get anything?" Jace asked, and he had that worried look again.

"I was gonna get coffee! And then..." she looked up at the blackboard behind the counter, scrunching up her nose as she considered the prices next to everything. It actually wasn't as scarily priced as she expected, but it was still expensive. "Well, I can afford a muffin? Or one of those yo-yo biscuits?" She shrugged as she looked back at Jace and he shook his head before smiling.

"Alright, well, order whatever you want, I'm paying. And I cleared my afternoon with my secretary—" he held up his phone, explaining what he had been doing on it on their way to the cafe. "So I'll take you home as well."

"Ooh, in the nice car?" Clary asked excitedly and Jace let out a short laugh.

"I guess? In my car," he shrugged a shoulder. "And we'll go to the grocery store and get you some food." Clary eyes widened and she stopped from moving up in the queue.

"Grocery store? Food?" She repeated back.

"Well, yeah," Jace said, taking a step forward in the queue and waiting for her. "You said you didn't have food—you didn't have _breakfast_ this morning. I'm getting you some food before you go back to your apartment." Clary blinked at him, and then some old bad behind her cleared her throat pointedly and Clary sighed and moved forward to stand beside Jace again.

"I get paid tomorrow—and Jordan does to. We will get some food from the 7-Eleven and then we'll be good for the next week," Clary nudged him with her elbow, not too sure how to react to the fact that he was willing to pay for her coffee and lunch and then take her grocery shopping.

"7-Eleven? That's where you get your weekly groceries?" Jace asked, sounding a little disbelieving.

"Yeah," Clary shrugged.

"We're gonna go to Whole Foods," Jace told her and then they were stepping forward again and they were at the counter and Clary was still blinking up at him, because as far as she knew, only parents shopped at Whole Foods, and Jace was already placing his order. She guessed _parents_ and adults, but generally those things were interchangeable. All she knew for certain was that unless she was with her mum or Luke, she had _never_ shopped at Whole Foods. "Clary?" Jace tilted his head to the side as he looked at her, a small smile on his face as he waited patiently for her.

Unlike the woman behind the counter waiting for her order, who looked as though Clary was the bane of her existence.

"Oh, shit," Clary cleared her throat as she quickly joined Jace at the counter and skimmed her eyes over the menu. "Can I get a mocha with two pumps of hazelnut syrup? And a..." she chewed down on her bottom lip as she kept looking at the blackboard, trying to find what she wanted to eat, and then shrugged when she couldn't decide between two things. "The honey-mustard chicken sandwich and a slice of the passionfruit cheesecake?"

"Full cream or skim?" The woman asked in a bored voice.

"Ew—full," Clary answered and there was a quiet laugh from Jace before he reached forward to the pay for their order. They moved to the side with the other waiting customers, and Clary looked around the cafe for a spare table. There was one at the far end, and she nudged Jace's side, nodding at the table so that he knew where she was going before leaving him waiting for their food and drinks and moving to the end of the cafe where the table was, to make sure it was reserved. It wasn't too long of a wait, and Jace came over and put down their drinks and food and sat opposite her. "Thanks," she told him with a smile.

"It's no problem, Clary," Jace said, his eyes warm as he looked over at her, and she was glad that he had taken off his sunglasses as well, so that she could see his eyes, which were kind of like liquid gold, and made her insides feel all warm and tingly.

"And honestly—we don't need to go to Whole Foods. Like—I'm all in for you giving me a ride back to my apartment, because anything not to take the bus or uber or whatever is awesome, but—you _don't_ have to get me groceries," Clary assured him as she picked up her coffee and took a sip. Then she made a face and reached for the sugar packets in the middle of the table in a dainty glass cup with pretty flowers painted around the rim and dumped two of them.

"Clary," Jace said quietly but firmly. "I'm going to give you a lift back to your apartment, but first we're going to get you groceries, okay? And not from 7-Eleven." Clary felt like maybe she should protest, but then she caught a glimpse of his watch again, and the Cartier sunglasses on his head, and then she had _another_ pair of Cartier sunglasses on _her_ head, and if he could afford all that shit and buy her cheesecake and coffee and sandwiches and wanted to buy her groceries, then why was she complaining about it.

"Okay," she shrugged a shoulder, but even she heard the slightly uncertain tone to her voice.

"Clary?" Jace murmured and she lifted her eyes from where she had been stirring her sugar into her coffee and met his, and it made her stomach feel even softer than before and she bit down on the bottom corner of her lower lip to stop herself from being super embarrassing and _whimpering out loud_. "It's fine. It's honestly fine." She narrowed her eyes a little at him, and then he narrowed his back at hers playfully and it made her giggle.

"Okay," she said again, and she sounded more confident this time. "But we have to get a bag of marshmallows."

"And a can opener."

"Oh yeah!" Clary laughed and Jace smiled at her. "And a can opener."

**Alright! Another mass update! I'm just...In a super shitty place right now, completely mental, my life is actually in a really good space—isn't it great when that happens? But writing is generally therapeutic so...Here we go.**

**Movies I would recommend would be _Where The Heart Is_, which is an old time favourite for me, and _How To Be Single_, which I actually quite like, even though I don't like Dakota Johnson. It's like my love for Leslie Mann cancels that out though. Haha. I don't know...Both of these movies make me really sad and happy at the same time, so it's good.**

**Songs that I've recently fallen in love with are _Perfectly Wrong_ by Shawn Mendes, _Chateau_ by Angus & Julia Stone,_ You Make It Easy_ by Jason Aldean and _Marry Me_ by Thomas Rhett. Recommend any songs that you guys have had on repeat recently :)**

**Hope you're all doing well, and please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter because I love your comments x**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, this is gonna be another one of these months you get two updates in month, so...*throws internet cookies***

It was surprisingly easy to just sit there and talk to Jace.

Clary had wondered if maybe it would get awkward, because he was old and had a proper job and money and owned a fancy ass car and lived in a super nice house, that they wouldn't have much to talk about, but they didn't.

He asked about her photography and she asked about his job, and he told her about how different New York had been from Los Angeles and how glad he was to move back and she told him about how she had lived anywhere but Los Angeles, although she had bounced around through a few places. And he had gotten some berry and white chocolate slice thing that looked _amazing_, and he could obviously see her eyeing it up because he pushed his plate in her direction and just laughed when she took off a massive chunk with her fork.

"Alright, so we need to get my car. Then we'll get groceries and I'll you take you back to your apartment before I got back to work," Jace said once they were done.

"You're gonna go back to work after you dropped me off?" Clary asked, tilting her head to the side and Jace's gaze followed her red curls as they fell over her shoulder before looking back up at her, eyes oddly soft.

"Yeah," he replied.

"But you said you cleared your afternoon," Clary pointed out. Because why the _fuck_ would anyone work when they didn't have to? He'd said before that it was _his_ company, which meant he probably got paid and shit whether or not he was there or not. If she could choose to get paid and _not_ to go to work, she would totally be down for that.

"I've still got other things to do," Jace told her with a small smile on his face. "There's always a lot to do."

"Sounds shit," Clary made a face and Jace let out a surprised laugh, eyes dancing as a grin spread across his face.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is," he admitted and Clary grinned back at him, just glad that she was the one who had made him laugh. "But it sort of comes with the territory."

"Wouldn't know," Clary shrugged. "I've never owned a company before." Jace smiled at her as an old memory shifted to the surface. "Although...I wouldn't go as far as to say that I don't have any business knowledge. There was a lemonade and fruit stand that I ran a _very_ successfully for three summers in a row." He arched an eyebrow and his smile shifted to something adorable and soft.

"What'd you buy with all of your profits?" Jace asked.

"A skateboard and a whole lot of a candy," Clary replied instantly and Jace laughed again.

"You still own the skateboard?" Jace asked.

"Damn straight I do," Clary grinned. "Although, I've had to buy another one since then, a bigger one, but I still have it, back at my mum and Luke's." Jace grinned again and Clary just felt nice and stupid and warm.

So, she got to drive in Jace's car, this time not drunk and not totally hungover, so it was even better than the first two times. It smelt really good, better than Simon's car and the other guys that Clary's had been in, even better than Luke's, because he always had boxes of work stuff in the back that would be in and out of storage which meant there was usually this musty sort of smell. It was clean as well, no stickiness or anything, or even dust, and Clary ran her fingers along the shiny surface in front of her before looking over at Jace.

"You alright?" Jace asked as he glanced over at her before focusing back on the road, and it wasn't as though she was going to tell him that she was marveling at the fact that there was no dust.

"Yup," Clary replied, popping the 'p' and then looking down at her phone. She had a couple of snapchats, one of them from Michael, and they only ever really interacted when one of them wanted to hook up, so she didn't even bother opening that one, pressing on the one from Magnus and then from Izzy. It didn't take long for them to get to a Whole Foods, and Jace found a park not too far from the entrance, and then they were getting out and he was getting a trolley as though they were normal, proper adults and doing their normal, proper adult shopping and she kind of just trailed in behind him.

"You want to lead the way?" Jace prompted her once they got inside, standing in to the fruit and vegetable section. Clary looked up at him, pursing her lips for a moment before nodding and then striding forward.

She wasn't completely incompetent when it came to grocery shopping, she used to go on proper shopping trips with her mum on a weekly basis and sometimes she did when she went home for weekends or holidays, she just didn't go on a regular basis.

She licked her lips as she her fingers skipped over to the apples, scanning the bags for the reddest ones and then putting it in the trolley. She couldn't help but glance up at Jace and he had this sort of approving look on his face, and it was _stupid_ because she didn't need his approval—this was _her_ shopping after all—but it kind of made her feel better. So then she got bananas and fresh peaches—none of this_ in the can_ kind of shit—and she got some vegetables because she wasn't working tonight so she could make dinner with actual food rather than the pasta with chopped up chicken patties that they had originally planned.

"Oooh!" Clary's eyes widened as she slammed her hands down on the side of the trolley and looked back at Jace, who looked taken aback by her outburst. "I'm gonna make meatballs for dinner." He relaxed almost straight away and nodded.

"You know what you need?" He asked, probably assuming that she had _some_ type of food at home.

She didn't.

She _really_ hadn't been kidding about there being nothing.

"I've got the seasoning?" She attempted with a shrug and a sheepish grin.

"Like the herbs?" Jace's eyebrows pulled together.

"Like the salt and pepper? Except probably not the pepper?" She replied with a squint and Jace stared at her for a moment before letting out another laugh, sounding like it came up from his stomach and was genuine and sweet, not at all like he was laughing _at_ her, which she was fine with.

"Alright, let's get going," he told her, his voice warm, and Clary couldn't help her smile in response, skipping along at his side.

They got everything that she needed for meatballs, and Jace got the proper brand pasta and put it in the trolley, not even weighing up the prices and going for the knock off brand that was all misshaped styles of pasta. Then he got two more bags and kept on going. He let her lead the way, but he made sure to pick things out as well, things that Clary wouldn't really think to get herself; like museli bars and little boxes of herbs and garlic ailoi in a fancy jar and a few packets of biscuits. He got her deli meat and fancy bread and didn't judge her when she dumped the biggest bag of marshmellows in the trolley, or when she grabbed a _second_ bag, because she might as well capitalize on this generosity while it was available to her.

"Just one last thing..." Jace mumbled under his breath as they went down the last aisle with assorted items, and he pulled a can opener off one of the hooks.

Clary beamed up at him.

When they got up to the check outs, Clary just started piling things onto the conveyor belt, and Jace didn't stop her, but she noticed that there was some kind of method to the items that he was pulling out of the trolley and putting down on the belt. The fruit was all together, the boxed items were together...It was all properly organised and it made her shrug, because she really didn't care if the chicken got packed next to the muffins.

They were wrapped up already, right?

She hadn't died of cross-contamination yet, and if it was going to happen, then at least she would have had the meatballs first, because she wouldn't try the muffins until tomorrow.

She'd had a good life, albeit a bit short.

She could deal with it.

She wouldn't have to pay off her student loans, so...That was a plus if she really had to find one.

"Clary?" Jace tilted his head to the side as he looked at her and Clary hummed in response as she looked back at him. "Can you move up a bit?" She realized that she had been standing in the same spot for a while now, while the cashier had swiped most of their items through and bagged them, and was probably going to expect payment some time soon.

Payment she _definitely_ didn't have, given it was payday tomorrow and she had about...Six dollars in her account, when she had checked this morning.

But Jace swiped a shiny black credit card through the machine and then he was packing everything back into the trolley and then they were walking out. Clary couldn't help that she was _still skipping_ beside him, and her hair was bouncing up and down around her shoulders and the hem of her shirt kept flipping up a little and she felt really stupidly happy.

About groceries.

And _that_ was a scary thought, because that was definitely an adult thing to be excited about and that wasn't really something that she wanted to think about right now.

What she _was_ willing to think about was the fact she was going to make fresh meatballs with proper herbs and spices and sauce from a jar and not the tubs where she had to peel back the top and fancy-ass pasta.

It was gonna be amazing.

When they were driving out of the store parking lot, Clary was looking around the centre console and found an aux cord tucked into the little slot where the lighter thing usually was in and she unwound it, glancing over at Jace. He looked over at her, and so obviously knew what she was doing and didn't seem to care, so she plugged it into her phone and flicked through her Spotify—or, more correctly, _Simon's_ Spotify account, because he paid the Spotify and she paid the Netflix and Jordan paid the—

"Put on whatever you want," Jace said quietly as they came to a stop at a red light and Clary realized that she had just been scrolling through the playlists and not choosing anything.

"Right," Clary mumbled, her thumb swiping over the screen, to the last played artists.

Liquid Jesus.

Not one of hers.

Clary rolled her upper lip and moved on.

Luke Combs.

Nope—that was definitely Simon.

Amy Shark.

There we go, that was fucking better.

Shawn Mendes, Yungblud, The Pretty Reckless, Bastille...She kept on swiping until she found 5 Seconds Of Summer, tapping into their main playlist and then just selecting Shuffle Play since they weren't all that far from her apartment. She had specific playlists as well, but she figured if Jace could handle her enormous hard-on for boy bands, then he was actually pretty much shaping up to be the perfect guy.

"I'm pretty sure Iz was obsessed with these guys," Jace commented. "She was heart broken when they broke up."

"They haven't broken up!" Clary cried, looking over at Jace with a horrified expression. He looked a little bewildered.

"I thought they...Were all doing their own separate thing now? After that first guy left—Iz's favourite?" Jace said, looking almost tentative. "That guy who was dating that model..."

"Ew, Iz's favourite was Zayn?" Clary rolled her eyes. "Typical. But—no, I mean—I'm guessing you're talking about One Direction, that's not them. This is 5SOS. They're amazing and still together. Although 5SOS did open for 1D at one stage..." she hummed out loud and Jace just shook his head, smiling before looking back at the road. They made it through three songs—including one of their old ones that Clary still adored but could admit was super cheesy—and Jace still had a small smile on his face and wasn't complaining, so she figured that she could forgive him for mixing up the two boy bands.

"Hm," Jace hummed out as they reached the apartment building and he looked around for parking. There was parking underneath their apartment building, but Clary didn't have the swipe card to get into the basement—one was in Simon's car and the other was in their apartment—so it wasn't as though they could go down there and use one of the parking spaces there. Jace found a park around the corner from the front doors of her apartment building and they got out, pulling the bags out of the back. Jace loaded most of them onto his arms, so Clary only had one to carry, and she lead the way into their building.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry anything else?" Clary asked over her shoulder as she jabbed the button for the elevator a couple of times, waiting for one of them to come down to the ground floor.

"I've got it," Jace replied easily, not looking as though he was struggling with the five bags on his arms. An elevator door opened and they got in, and it was nowhere near as fancy as the elevators at Jace's apartment building. There was shitty twinkling music and there was no plant in the corner, and there were some weird stains on the floor and scratches on the walls and door. Once they got to their floor, Jace stuck his foot purposefully in the door, holding them open while Clary walked past him, then following after her, and her apartment was empty as she went inside. "Does everyone else have class now?" Jace asked as he walked over to the cluttered kitchen table and put the shopping bags down.

"Simon and Iz do," Clary said as she put her own bag down next to his, then put her keys, phone and wallet down on the bench. "Jordan is...Out. I don't know. Or maybe he's here and in his room?" She glanced down the hallway, and the door of the room that he shared with Simon was shut, but that was pretty common for them. "He's at his boyfriends sometimes, but they fight a lot."

"But still do weird sex things that involve kitchen utensils?" Jace asked with an amused smile and Clary grinned.

"Half the time I think they just fight to have the make up sex," she replied as she started to unpack the grocery bags. "It can get pretty loud. Simon usually ends up on the couch or sharing mine or Izzy's bed..." she got distracted as she realized that Jace had added some more fresh fruit and vegetables than she had seen, and there were also some instant mixes for pancakes, cupcakes and a lemon cake. They were the expensive instant mixes too, and she appreciated that he hadn't just randomly got her all of the ingredients, because at least this way, they could sit in the cupboard for a while, until a special occasion, and they didn't have to use them right away.

"Where did you want these?" Jace asked her, holding up the bread items and Clary waved a hand over her shoulder to one of the cupboards while she started putting things in the fridge. There was some beer in the fridge—Jordan's brand, not Simon's—and there was a bottle of mayonnaise and a few cheese slices still in their plastic wrappers. All in all, it looked pretty sad, but as she started adding the bottle of milk, and the yoghurt, and the fruit and vegetables, it started looking like a fully functional fridge—probably for the first time since it had been moved into their apartment. "And this," Jace held out the can opener, still in it's cardboard and plastic packaging. "Is there somewhere safe that you can put it? Where Jordan and his boyfriend can't find it?" He had a wry smile on his face and it was _weird_, because Jace wasn't the type of guy who had to worry about where his can opener was.

She'd been in his house and she'd seen his car, and he seemed to be _extra_ clean and orderly, even for an adult.

He probably knew exactly what was in the drawers in his kitchen, and he didn't have room mates who have weird sex lives that correlated directly to not being able to open a can of peaches.

But he was...Smiling and looked happy about the fact she was the complete opposite of him.

Clary wasn't even really thinking before she was taking a few steps to cross the kitchen and was reaching up and pressing a kiss to Jace's cheek. Admittedly, she would rather be kissing him _somewhere else_, especially since she knew that he was so good _at_ kissing, but she decided to stick with something safe right now. When Clary moved back, Jace was smiling at her, and it made her stomach dip as she rested back on her feet.

"Did you want to do this again?" Jace asked.

"Grocery shop?" Clary couldn't help but laugh and Jace rolled his eyes, and it made him look younger, and it was ridiculously endearing, even though she liked the fact that he was older than her.

"We can grocery shop again, yes," Jace nodded his head, and Clary had been joking but the fact that he had agreed made her eyes widen in surprise and the smile drop her face as she realized that he was implying that he would buy her groceries _again_. "But I meant go out for food. Maybe for dinner?" Clary's eyes lit up.

"Yeah?" She grinned. "Yeah," she repeated, and jerked her head in a nod, and Jace smiled wide at her.

"Does Saturday night work?" He asked. Clary probably had plans already on Saturday, but it would just be to go out drinking, which is what she did every Saturday. This was a once in a life time thing.

Or twice in a life time, if their coffee date today counted as an actual date.

But either way, she wasn't going to pass it up.

"Yeah, absolutely," Clary nodded again. Jace's face was soft and sweet and he lifted his hand to touch her cheek, gently gliding his fingers over her cheekbone. His touch was so light that Clary could only _just_ feel it, but her eyelashes still fluttered slightly and her lips parted just a little. When she refocused her eyes on Jace, he wasn't smiling anymore, and his teeth were pressing gently into his lower lip. She watched as he swallowed hard and he stepped back, hand falling to his side.

"Do you have anywhere that you would prefer to go?" Jace asked as he turned back to the kitchen table and finished emptying the plastic bags.

"Uh..." Clary really just wanted him to _come back _and touch her face again.

Or kiss her.

She really wasn't fussy.

Either one would make her happy.

And honestly—the fanciest food that she went and brought was when they had enough money to scrape together to go to the roast shop across the road and then put it onto plates and use actual knives and forks to eat it instead of using plastic ones and eating right out of the container.

"You pick," she went with and Jace nodded.

"Do you like Thai? Chinese? Italian?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Clary smirked and Jace laughed.

"Alright, really narrows down our options," he replied and she just shrugged.

"And don't forget that wherever we go, it has to have a good place to get dessert. Or we could go to a dessert bar. Either way, dessert is the most important part of the meal and if you screw up on that, I really don't think I can go out on another date with you," the words were out before she could stop them, and even though Jace was _technically_ asking her out on a date, saying it out loud made it sound a whole lot louder.

But Jace just smiled over at her as he picked up his keys from the table.

"Dessert is the most important, and you like Thai, Chinese and Italian," he recited back. "I'll find somewhere for us to go, and I'll text you and let you know what time I can get us booked in?"

"Perfect," Clary beamed and she kind of wanted to say _you're perfect_ but she didn't.

"Thanks for meeting me today, Clary," Jace said, his voice_ so sincere_ that it made her heart thump harder in her chest.

"I—course," Clary didn't really know what to say, because she had thanked him a few times on the way home for buying her groceries, and really, she was the one that got the better end of the deal here.

"Bye, Clary," Jace told her softly, giving her one last smile before opening the front door and disappearing.

**I watched the movie _It's Kind of a Funny Story_ for the first time, I've been meaning to watch it for years, but I just never had. I'm really glad I did, so I definitely recommend it. It's got Zach Galifianakis, Viola Davis and Emma Roberts and it's just a really really good. Sort of similar to _Perks of Being a Wallflower_, although nowhere near as good since that's my favourite movie of all time. Haha. Also as I'm writing this, we're watching _Big Hero 6_ and I just adore this movie so much. They're all just amazing, and Tadashi is just...The most beautiful person in the world. Oh, and the other day I watched _Need For Speed_ again, which is just a mindlessly car racing movie, but I love Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots and so it's great. Haha.**

**For TV shows, I've recently started _The Bold Type_, and I'm completely in love, the three main girls are adorable, I don't know which one is my favourite so far. None? All? All, I think. And I absolutely love Alex. And Jacqueline is a fucking goddess. Honestly, the show just makes me so happy. Also _Crashing_, which was fucking hilarious. Some of the lines in it were really cruel, actually, which kind of cut for a comedy show. I absolutely fucking LOVED Melody and Colin and Sam. Particularly Melody. Also, _Derry Girls_, I've recommended it before, I'll do it again. Haha. My husband and I have watched it sooooooo many times, it's generally our go-to when stoned. Haha.**

**Okay, so songs... Uh, some old ones I've been listening to—_Forever _and_ Sex Metal Barbie_ by In This Moment, um, also _Blood_ and _Adrenalize_. Slow _Fade_ by Ruth B, which is beautiful, _Cringe_ by Matt Maeson and the acoustic version is even better. _None Of My Business_ by Cher Lloyd and _Takeaway_ by The Chainsmokers and then _Hope For The Underrated Youth_ by Yungblud, which I bawled my eyes out over the first few times I listened to it.**

**Okay; questions...Anyone into _Veronica Mars_? Anyone been into Veronica Mars since they were a child? Oh my god. I was so fucking disappointed by the reboot. Like, my entire heart dropped. I only got two episodes in, and I wasn't really enjoying it, I just felt like Veronica wasn't characterized well, she had actually regressed, and then I read the ending, and I just refused to go on. So...That's disappointment dating back to my primary school days.**

**Umm...Favourite song right now? Mine is _hammer_ by nothing,nowhere.**

**And how many tattoos do you have? I've just gotten my second one, and I think I'm getting a third in November, and then I've got plans for, like, four others.**

**Anyway, drop a review, they make my day :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, guys! Just a quick heads up that I'm not sure if there will be two updates for every story next month, like there has been for the past couple months, we'll just see how it goes. Working a lot at the moment and my husband and I are doing renovations on our home and just general busy life stuff, so don't have a lot of free time right now x**

"What you got there?" Helen poked her nose over Clary's shoulder to have a look into the plastic container that Clary had just gotten out of the microwave in the tiny make-shift kitchen that the employees could use. The term _employees_ was used pretty loosely as well, given most of them were students, and there was a dark room and a computer lab in the same building as them, and the people who worked in those used the same kitchenette. "Shit, that smells good."

"Jace took me shopping yesterday," Clary announced proudly as she stabbed her into the pesto chicken pasta that she had cooked up last night with Simon—_after_ she had made meatballs for all of their dinner—so that all of them had substantial lunches to take to class.

For probably the first time since they started college.

"_Food_ shopping?" Helen asked as she reached into Clary's container with her bloody _fingers_, and grabbed at a slice of red capsicum and pulled it out, shoving it her mouth and moaning. "Holy shit, this is amazing."

"I know, right? I'm a damn good cook when I actually have food in the house," Clary stated proudly, but then picked up her fork and threatened to stab Helen's fingers as she reached in to try an pick up a piece of pasta. "Don't you fucking dare. This is the best food I've eaten in two months, since I was back home with mum and Luke." Helen arched an eyebrow, but she pulled her hand back.

Wise decision, if Clary did say so herself.

"Anyway, like I said before—_food_ shopping? That's a very specific kind of shopping," Helen rested her ass on the help desk next to Clary.

"Is it?" Clary mumbled through a mouthful of food that she had just shoved between her lips. "I would think something like _lingerie_ shopping would be a very specific kind of shopping," she continued talking around the pasta, and clearly she had been living with Simon and Jordan for too long, because she never used to talk with her mouth full when she had been living back at home.

"It _is_. But that's—that's a _different_ type of lingerie shopping," Helen said. "Food shopping is domestic as fuck. It's, like...A proper relationship type of thing." Clary's head jerked at that, and the fork clattered out of her hand and onto the desk. Helen frowned as she looked down and she seemed to realize her mistake.

Because _no_.

There was no _proper relationship type of thing._

It wouldn't be fucking fair if people were classing them as a proper relationship type of thing—her _first_ ever proper relationship thing—when she hadn't even gotten to have sex with Jace, and only to have kissed him yet.

So _no_.

Not to say there never would be, maybe, far into the future, at some point, _after_ they had had a lot of sex that she _knew_ was going to be mind blowing, but they had literally only kissed because of a dumb Kiss Cam and gone out for coffee once and now Helen was saying that it sounded like they were in a proper relationship type of thing because Jace had brought her some _food_? Jace just seemed like a nice guy! Who did nice things! Like buying poor college students food!

"Clary?" Helen said tentatively and Clary blinked at the blonde. "You haven't said anything...For about three whole minutes now." Clary cleared her throat and looked down at the desk, making a face when she saw some of the pesto had spilled off her fork and onto the desk top. She glanced around, looking for a tissue or a napkin to wipe up the desk with.

"There's no _proper relationship type of thing_ or anything, Helen," Clary mumbled and Helen shrugged.

"Okay," she replied easily, as though putting those ideas in Clary's head was just easily swept aside and forgotten about. Clary rolled her eyes as she found a crumpled tissue under one of the books that was piled up on the edge of the desk and wiped up the mess. When she threw it toward the rubbish bin, Helen was still watching her with a small smile. "So when are seeing your not-relationship guy again?"

"Saturday," Clary replied, pointedly ignoring her little jibe.

"Well, that sounds like fun," Helen grinned. "You'll have to let me know how your date goes." Clary narrowed her eyes a little bit, wondering if Helen meant anything else, but she just kept on grinning at her, and so Clary let it go. "Anyway, I only just came by because I left a book here on my shift yesterday," the blonde eyed Clary carefully for a moment before lunging forward and grabbing a piece of pesto chicken with her fingers before dancing backwards a few steps and laughing as Clary picked her fork up again and gave a threatening jab in her direction. "See ya, Clary!" She picked up a book from one of the tables, the one that she must have left there during her shift yesterday, and was then leaving and letting the door slam shut behind her.

Clary couldn't help but frown after her.

It wasn't that she had any type of _issue_ with a relationship, it was just that she really liked Jace_ a lot_ already and she didn't want to rush anything.

Except sex.

She would be really keen to rush sex.

They didn't even have to go full on, right_ in there_ sex, it could just be kissing and mostly clothed actions that lead to orgasms that were only partly satisfying. She'd be happy with that, because she knew that it would be good with Jace.

She settled back into her chair with her plastic container of pasta and fork and almost grumpily finished her pesto pasta.

* * *

Clary didn't have any classes on Friday, which was why Friday was the absolute best week day, and she stayed in bed until after she had heard all her roommates leave, including Jordan, who didn't have class until eleven. And then for some reason, she decided to get up and do some cleaning.

It wasn't as if their apartment was an absolute _tip_ or anything, but they didn't exactly clean the place regularly. They attempted to have a cleaning schedule, which worked well enough to get the dishes clean and the washing down and the bathroom _not_ absolutely disgusting, but there was still a lot to be desired. Simon usually did any of the extra cleaning, like the vacuum cleaner that they had got cheap because it only turned on half the time and the piping was so short that everyone but Clary had to hunch forward while using it, or dusting behind the TV or wiping along the window sills.

She turned a Hey Violet playlist up as she connected it to the speaker and started in the kitchen. Jordan and Simon had done the dishes last night after she and Isabelle had made dinner, and the boys didn't do a _bad_ job, but they also didn't wipe around the sink and the drying rack once they were done, and they didn't take out any food that got trapped in the plug hole, since they didn't have a waste disposal unit in their sink, just leaving it there. Clary climbed up on the bench to pull things out of the cupboards and put them on the bench so that she could wipe down inside the cupboards, something that she was pretty sure hadn't been done since they had moved in, and honestly, time seemed to fade away.

It was surprising how therapeutic cleaning was.

She remembered her mum saying that when she was younger, and later she could think about that and make a face about how _adult_ that must make her, but at the time, it was kind of nice.

She shifted through playlists as she worked, moving on from Hey Violet to Eminem to Miley Cyrus to Niall Horan until the front door was opening and Jordan was stumbling in with his boyfriend, their arms wrapped around each other and their faces smushed together. Clary was in the lounge now, having finished in the kitchen, and she looked up with an arched eyebrow. Jordan slammed the door behind him with a kick of his foot and then him and Lambert Connell stumbled forward a bit more before Jordan all of a sudden jerked away, sticking his nose in the air.

"What the—" he broke off as he saw Clary in the lounge, crouched down beside the entertainment unit, their DVD's and playstation games all pulled out as she wiped down the shelves. "It smells really _clean_ in here."

"Yeah. Coz I've been _cleaning_," Clary waved her dirty paper towel over her head exaggeratedly. Lambert raised a pierced eyebrow at her and she grinned over at him. It was actually kind of funny, the way Jordan and Lambert had originally been introduced. He was a year older than Clary, and had been an apprentice at a tattoo place that also did piercings. Clary and Izzy had gone in to get piercings, and Clary had walked out with Lamberts phone number, and the next week they all met up at a bar to go dancing and drinking with their fake IDs. Clary had been completely ready for a fun hook up with the dark haired man, but then him and Jordan had met, and they had been tripping over each other ever since. Clary didn't resent either of them for it, her and Lambert were friends now and he and Jordan were happy with the thing that they had going on, even if it was super on and off.

"Do you...Want help?" Jordan winced as he asked the question, and with a quick glance down, Clary smirked, because it was _obvious_ that Jordan had been hoping to take care of something _else _with Lamberts help.

"You go take care of your own issues," Clary waved a hand at the two of them with a grin and then leaned over to turn her music up louder, because they could be _loud_, and then went back to cleaning. She had finished with the entertainment unit and was ripping off some more paper towels when she heard her phone buzz from a text, and she reached over to pick it up, a grin spreading across her face when she saw a message from Jace.

**_Hi, Clary. I just wanted to check that everything was still okay for tomorrow night?_**

Of _course_, it was fucking alright.

She was pretty sure that if he cancelled on her, she was going to throw a tantrum.

_YES!_

She couldn't help but stare down at her phone, waiting for a reply to come. But then a few minutes went by, and nothing came and she grumbled under her breath and put her phone back down and went to pick up the paper towel and the cleaning spray when her phone buzzed again.

**_I just wanted to check before I made us a booking. I'll pick you up at six-thirty?_**

As far as excuses went for not replying to texts _immediately_, making a booking for their date tomorrow night was a pretty good one.

_Thats okay. Do I have to dress fancy? Where are we going_

_**Ninos. It's a beachfront restaurant.**_

Uh, yes, she knew where _Ninos_ was. Luke had taken her mum there last year for their anniversary—he'd had to book nearly six months in advance to make sure that they had a table. She'd spent an hour looking at the menu the night that they had gone out to dinner, and she had practically drooled all over the keyboard of her laptop.

But it had also been incredibly expensive.

As in—a meal there would probably cost more than what she earned in two months.

She'd known that wherever they were going to go was going to cost a bit more money than she expected, and so she had compromised with herself to take some of her sock money out so that she would have the money if she needed it, but she would have to take out almost _all_ of it to pay for dinner there. And to buy something to wear? She didn't have shit to wear there!

She _assumed_ he was paying, but then she also didn't just want to make that assumption. It was a _date_, but she hadn't actually been on that many dates, per se, and so she guessed that he was going to be paying, but...She scrunched up her nose.

She was still staring down at her phone, thumb hovering over the screen as her brain fumbled for something to say when another text came, and then a third one.

**_Clary? Did you change your mind about Italian food?_**

**_We could go somewhere else, I can cancel the reservation._**

Clary clicked her teeth together nervously as she thought about her response, which she was going to have to get together very quickly. She blew out through her lips and just went with the truth.

_It sounds amazing, but I don't know if I can afford it_

She sent off the reply before she could second guess it, and then a moment later, her phone was ringing. There was no picture that came up, because she didn't have one assigned to his contact, but she was also kinda frozen because _who the fuck_ called anymore?

Old people!

Old people called!

Literally the only time she called people was when she was drunk, or if she really had to call Helen or Izzy to vent over something that had happened, although even then, she generally video called them instead, rather than _call_-call. Or her mum. But even then, the only reason she rang her mum was because she _tried_ texting her mum, and then her mum just _rang_ _her_ back, so she might as well just cut out the middle shit and just ring her straight away. At least Luke could hold a conversation by text.

Sure, _fine_, she would call other people _sometimes_, but not really!

"Oh, _fuck_!" Clary groaned as she realized that she had been thinking for so long that she hadn't answered the call and it had rung out, so she just looked like a fucking idiot, staring at the missed call icon on her screen. She was about to try and call him back when her phone lit up again, with Jace calling her again, and she grinned, feeling a little loosened up knowing that he wanted to talk to her so badly that he was calling her back a second time. She swiped her thumb over the screen and lifted her phone to her ear, quickly answering the call. "Hi!" She chirped.

"Hey, um—are you busy?" Jace asked, probably wondering why she had totally blanked and not answered his call, even though it was _obvious_ that she had her phone on her because they had been texting.

"No, no—just, uh—cleaning," she shrugged a shoulder and made a face at her reflection in the TV.

"Okay," he took an obvious breath over the phone, and Clary arched an eyebrow, not saying anything, because she was pretty awkward on the phone and so she settled for making another face at her reflection. "Uh—the money isn't a thing, Clary. Don't worry about that. I asked you out, I chose the place, I'm paying for dinner." Clary pursed her lips together for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay, that's fine then," she agreed.

She'd literally _just_ been joking with Helen the other day about how she wanted someone to buy her expensive things and say she had a pretty face and...Now she had just had to work on him telling her that she was pretty.

That would be a good next step.

Or, dinner was the next step, so...Maybe if she wasn't going to use some of her sock money to pay for dinner, she could use it to pay something _really_ good to wear to dinner.

"Clary?" Jace was asking and she blinked.

"Shit, what?" She asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay with still going out. You sound kind of distracted?" Jace questioned and Clary felt bad.

"Sorry, I'm just...I really like cleaning?" She attempted, grasping at straws for a reason as to why she wasn't paying attention to the gorgeous older guy on the other end of the phone who was taking her out on a proper _date_ tomorrow night, to a fancy ass restaurant, and was going to pay for it.

"Really?" Jace let out a laugh that sounded full-bellied and beautiful.

"No," Clary responded honestly and Jace laughed again, not in a way that he was laughing _at_ her, but like he genuinely found her funny.

Which, yeah, point to him, because she was _great_ and had her funny moments.

"So picking you up at six-thirty works?" Jace clarified and Clary nodded, even as she verbally answered.

"Sounds good," she replied and then winced. "Oh, yeah—I also feel as though I should warn you that my roommates will probably be here tomorrow? And probably drunk, since it's Saturday night. I mean...They might not be, but they _probably_ will be." She thought about last Saturday night, and then the Saturday nights for the past, say, three months, and they had been drunk almost all of them, even if they didn't go out and club those nights, they would generally be drunk in their apartment.

"That doesn't bother me, Clary," Jace replied before hesitantly continuing. "Unless that's a problem for you?"

"No! I mean—well, one of my roommates is your cousin, so I should probably tell her that I'm going out with you..." Clary trailed off and tilted her head to the side.

Izzy had seemed totally fine when her and Jace had kissed, so...She was guessing this wasn't going to be a problem?

Maybe?

Back in high school, some of the girls she had been friends with had had crushes on her brother, but nothing had ever happened with any of them. She wasn't sure how she would have felt about that, but Jonathan Morgenstern had always been a total player, so she would have been looking out for _them_, more than being protective of her own brother.

"I actually thought you might have mentioned it to her, since you live together. But I can give her a call, if you want?" Jace suggested and Clary smirked and rolled her eyes at the fact that he was so eager to make _another_ call.

"No, no, it's okay. I'll talk to her," Clary told him. "Uh—so I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Jace's voice was softer now. "I'll see you tomorrow." Clary didn't take her phone away from her ear straight away, chewing down on her bottom lip and taking in a deep breath and ending the call.

Then she quickly sent a quick message out in her Facebook message group with Helen and Izzy.

_I need to go dress shoppinggggg. TONIGHT_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, guys! Before getting into it, I want to recommend some of my favourite songs as of late..._Undrunk_ by Fletcher. _Dance Monkey_ by Tones and I. And then of course _Kill My Mind_ by the beautiful Louis Tomlinson and _Lights Up_ by the just as beautiful Harry Styles, although the _Lights Up_ music video was an experience and a half, especially while high. _Pretending_ and _Honest_ by Mali Koa are just beautiful. Then _Promise Me_ by Badflowers, which...Made my heart hurt when I heard the song, and then when I watched the video, I cried for the next hour. Yeah. I just wanted to share some happy things, since my note down the end isn't as happy, I guess. Anyway. On with the story x**

"I can't believe you waited until _now_ to tell me that your date tonight is with my cousin," Izzy snorted from where she was stretched out on Clary's unmade bed, the top sheet and blankets shoved down to the bottom of the bed in a tangled mess and one of Izzy's hands tucked under Clary's pillow. "We were literally helping you pick out _thongs_ for this date last night!"

"Would you still have helped me pick out the lacy red underwear if you knew that it was your cousin I was trying to get to take them off?" Clary asked, not looking back over her shoulder or at Izzy's reflection in the mirror, completely focused on perfecting her smoky eye.

"Well..." Izzy hummed and Clary actually paused then, because Izzy was one of her_ best friends_, and as exciting as this _thing_ was with Jace, Izzy was still more important. Clary put down the eyeshadow brush that she had been using and turned around in the seat she had dragged from the kitchen and put down in front of the mirror in her room, looking back at the dark haired girl on her bed.

"I was going to tell you the other day, when we went out for coffee, but...I mean, you were asleep and being a bitch," Clary smiled tentatively and was relieved when Izzy snorted. "And I didn't know if we were going to go out again." Izzy regarded her for a moment before shrugging.

"It's fine, Clary," Izzy said, and she _did_ sound fine. Clary had known Izzy for a while now, and she felt as though she could read her well. Izzy had tells when things weren't okay, just like everyone else. "And, I mean, if he's happy to keep buying us food, then I'm happy for you to date him. Oh—and if you guys are happy and shit," she added as afterthought and Clary snorted.

"Wow. _Thanks_," she drawled before turning back around to carry on with her make up, feeling better than she had before.

A _lot_ better.

She had thought about telling Izzy last night, when they went out with Helen in response to her SOS text to find a dress, _buuuut_ if she had really not liked the idea and had gotten pissed at Clary, then that would have put Helen in a super awkward position with them, so Clary hadn't done that.

So the plan had been to do it this morning, but Izzy had left to go and hook up with someone last night and she hadn't gotten home until a few hours ago, and then she had napped until about twenty minutes ago, when she had come in here and rudely taken over Clary's bed to watch her get changed.

"Ow!" Clary hissed as she tried to get the eyeliner _just right_ and just succeeded in stabbing herself in the eye. "I fucking _fail_ at being a woman!" She announced and Izzy laughed from the bed, getting up and coming over to stand behind Clary.

"Let me," she said. "And your eye-shadow game is strong, we all know that, you just suck at any type of fancy eyeliner work."

Yes.

They were all fucking aware of that.

Izzy could manage a near-perfect winged eyeliner on her first try, whereas Clary just looked like a five year old with a permanent marker going crazy on her face.

"Okay, I need the cotton swab..." Izzy mumbled and she dabbed the swap in some of the make up remover that Clary always _knew_ to have readily available whenever she was going to attempt shit with eyeliner, and then started her fix up job. It only took a few minutes, and when Clary turned back to the mirror, her eyeliner looked absolutely _perfect_, because Izzy was an absolute queen.

"You're brilliant," Clary stated as she picked up a tube of lipstick.

"Nuh-uh—this one, it'll look better with your underwear, once he gets you out of your dress," Izzy smirked as she picked up another lipstick, a deep red one, that looked almost purplish-black. The lingerie that she was going with was no bra, because the dress had an inbuilt one, and unlike her more _endowed _friends, she could get away without wearing a bra if her dress was tight enough to support her. The underwear was a lacy red high waisted thong that had cost a stupid amount for a tiny scrap of material, but that both Helen and Izzy had agreed looked amazing, accentuating her waist and ass.

"You usually into helping people get laid by your cousin?" Clary smirked and Izzy rolled her eyes.

"Okay, _please_ stop putting all of that together like that," she scrunched up her nose. "I think I can deal with this if it's just—ya know, all separate pieces. You're going on dates with someone. You're having sex with someone. Oh, hey, you're seeing my cousin, cool! But like—you don't need to be telling me that you're having _sex_ with _my cousin_, okay?" Clary couldn't help but laugh.

"Right. Good to know that your boundaries are crystal clear," she replied.

"Eh," Izzy didn't seem bothered as she moved to the plastic rack in Clary's corner which served as a wardrobe, since the only room with an _actual_ wardrobe was in the room that Simon and Jordan shared. "I feel good about this dress," she stated as she took out the dress that they had picked up last night, the original reason for the shopping emergency.

"That's because it was your number one pick," Clary retorted. "And because you know you have half the rights to it." Izzy was taller and curvier than Clary, but things like dresses or tee-shirts tended to fit them both if it was the right kind of fabric. They had decided shortly after they had moved in together that they would occasionally go halves on clothes because clothes were _expensive_ but they both wanted new things.

Or, new for them.

They usually came from thrift stores because if you looked for long enough, there was some good stuff there, and it wasn't as expensive as getting things brand new.

"Please don't have sex in this dress," Izzy made a face. "I mean, generally we don't have that rule with our clothes because throw it through the wash and it's all good, but...I feel that I might care a bit more if I know that it was _Jace_ who had sex with you in this dress." She mimed throwing up and Clary grinned devilishly.

"_You're_ the one who brought up me having sex with your cousin that time. _Not me._" Izzy pulled the fingers at her and that was that.

Jace had seemed pretty insistent on coming by and picking Clary up, and by doing that, he had said that he would come up and get her, he'd actually seemed offended when she had messaged him half an hour ago telling him _text when you're downstairs_. It felt a bit _weird_, especially since everyone in the flat was _there_, and they were all very aware of what was going on and there were grins and shoves happening and wiggling eyebrows. Clary sniffed at them and tried to act as though she wasn't freaking out, even though she was checking her make up on the selfie-mode on her camera and tugging at the hem of her dress.

"Oh my _god_, you look_ hot as shit_, stop freaking out," Jordan called out to her from where he was slumped on the couch, raising an eyebrow at her as she looked over at him.

"Well, maybe I should have gone for something a bit classier or whatever, right? Like...He's old and stuff, so maybe this is too much..." Clary scrunched up her nose as she looked down at her dress and Simon snorted while Izzy rolled her eyes.

"I don't know if you should start the evening by saying he's _old_," Simon stated. "And even if he was, like, _fifty_, that dress is killer."

"And he's not _that_ much older than us," Izzy pointed out. "We're twenty-one, he's thirty-two, I mean...Eleven years isn't that much."

"When he was middle school, you were only just being born," Jordan stated and all three roommates turned to look at him. "What?! I'm just saying!" Izzy pulled a cushion out from behind her back and threw it at him. "What?!"

"_Anyway_," Izzy continued pointedly. "That dress isn't slutty or anything, especially since you're wearing that jacket. You look great, and he's gonna think so too."

And, well, _no shit_, Clarry was _aware_ that she looked great, she'd seen her reflection multiple times in the past hour as she had been getting ready, and then in the past ten minutes since she had actually finished, but she still felt stupidly nervous. The dress was a deep red, tight and sleeveless, that gathered around her neck and left her shoulders and arms bare, with black designs around the torso, and a full skirt that ended a few inches above her knees, with a pair of high black heels.

Part of her had actually wondered if the dress was too _cute_ when she had tried it on in the store, but Helen and Izzy had insisted that it wouldn't be, especially once her face and hair was done and she was wearing heels, and they had been right. It was definitely more _sexy_ than _cute_ now.

There was a knock at the front door, just as Clary was beginning to wonder if she should swap handbags to the glittery small one that she usually used when she went to gigs and concerts, and she made a face as she looked at the door, nose wrinkling and lips pulling back over her teeth.

"Merp," she uttered and Jordan snorted on the couch.

"Should I give him the dad talk?" Simon grinned as he threw his playstation controller and made a move to get up off the couch.

"Pretty sure he's old enough to _be_ our dad," Jordan grinned and Clary shot him a dark look before there was a laugh from Izzy. Simon was still moving to the front door and Clary was about to tell him to _fuck off_, because she really had no idea what he was going to come out with when he greeted Jace on the other side of the door, but Simon was already pulling open the door and it would be too fucking obvious now yelling at him, so she just let it happen.

And Jace looked _edible_.

Like—_shit_.

"Hey," Simon greeted him, acting like a normal fucking human being, while Clary felt as though she was stuck to the spot.

"Hi, Simon," Jace replied, voice smooth and easy, and not sounding anywhere near as nervous as Clary was feeling. His eyes searched over Simon's shoulder, in the lounge first, where Izzy and Jordan were, and then toward the kitchen, where Clary was, and his face softened when he saw her, although there was something about his eyes that seemed to get a bit darker.

That was a good sign.

A _very_ good sign.

Hopefully a sign that she was going to end up out of her dress and the sexy red thong.

"Hi, Clary," Jace's voice was about an octave lower, which did stupid things to the part of her that was being _hidden_ by the sexy red thong and Clary blinked, because she had done a lot of stupid things in front of her roommates before—including a lot of stupid things _with_ her roommates—but she wasn't going to fling herself at the beautiful blonde and demand that he take her to her tiny bedroom and have his way with her right then and there.

"Si!" Jordan called from where he was still on the couch. "Stop hogging the door! Let the man in, or let the woman out!" Simon rolled his eyes as he stepped to the side, and Clary shot a thankful look over at Jordan before taking a few steps forward and then stopping short when she saw what was in Jace's hand.

Flowers.

He brought her _flowers_.

No one had ever brought her flowers.

Like, Simon had once picked her flowers when they were kids and he had a crush on her, but they were from the neighbours garden and they were all torn and ripped and there were clumps of dirt hanging from them.

But these were proper fucking _flowers_.

All colourful and wrapped in ribbon and beautiful.

"Oh wow," Clary blinked as he extended the flowers out to her, offering them to her. Clary took them and couldn't help but smush her nose into the middle of the flowers, probably the _opposite_ of elegant and whatever else the other froofy, fancy-ass girls that Jace usually dated would do, but they looked so pretty and she wanted to know if they smelt as good as they looked. "Thank you," Clary said as she lifted her head and looked back at Jace, and he was smiling at her. "Oh shit," she realized as she looked over her shoulder. "I don't think we have a vase..."

"I'll sort it out!" Izzy called out, getting up from where she was on the arm chair and grinning at Jace before taking the flowers from Clary's hands. "You guys _go_!" She shoved at Clary's shoulder and Jace held out his hand to her.

"Are you ready?" He asked and Clary was about to answer when Izzy did for her.

"Yes—she is! Just go!"

"Fucking hell," Clary couldn't help but mutter and roll her eyes and she heard Jace laugh under his breath as they stepped out into the hallway and Clary pulled the door shut behind her. "Sorry about them," she scrunched up her nose and it was weird that she felt the need to apologise for her friends. Because she _never_ did. They were awesome and if people didn't think that, then clearly they were people that Clary didn't want in her life, but she just felt nervous.

It was different from when she had been getting ready with Izzy, she actually felt on _edge_ right now.

It was crap.

"Clary?" Jace murmured and she looked up, blinking at the expectant look on his face, as though he had said her name a couple of times now. "Are you alright?"

"I just feel weirdly nervous right now," Clary stated, not bothering to act coy about it, because it honestly had taken her aback and she felt a bit off balance.

"Is it...Is it because of where we're going?" Jace asked, looking a little hesitant and Clary pressed her lips together as she thought about going to the fancy restaurant on the beachfront with Jace in his suit that definitely cost three times as much as what her entire outfit—including shoes and bag—cost, and in his car that looked as though it should only be driven by movie stars. She hadn't _really_ thought about it too much, actually, not until the last half an hour, because up until that point most of her concern was on her make up and hair, even yesterday after their phone call, when she had gone out shopping with Helen and Izzy, and she hadn't thought much _further_ than after getting dressed.

Until now.

"Maybe?" Clary cringed. "I don't know?"

"Did you...Okay, how about this?" Jace tilted his head to the side and smiled. "You said that dessert was the most important part of the meal to you, right?"

"Of course," Clary frowned at the phrasing of the question, because it kind of sounded as though dessert _wasn't_ the most important part of the meal to him, which would be all kinds of wrong.

"I found this dessert bar as well, where we could go. How about we go there first and see how it goes, and if you're still feeling a bit uncertain about the restaurant, we can find some pizza parlor to go to?" Jace suggested and Clary blinked at him.

Honestly, she would just be really happy to go back to his place now and let him take her out of the dress.

"That sounds perfect," Clary stated, and it was like that knot that had tied itself in her chest—that she hadn't even recognized before Jace had shown up—instantly started to loosen in her chest. "Do I get a kiss first?" She asked, and she _must_ have been feeling a _little_ better at least because the question came out flirty and it made Jace blink and then laugh, caught off guard before he leaned in, his hand coming up to cup curve around the side of her face for a moment before he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

It was chaste and sweet and _not enough_ but it would have to do for now.

"Ready?" Jace asked for a smile, looking more relaxed that he had the first time he had asked the question, holding out his hands, fingers spread a bit, leaving the pefect spaces for Clary to slide her fingers between.

"Ready," Clary nodded her head and slipped her hand into his.

Jace's car looked beautiful as usual parked at the curb, and once they got inside, he didn't have any complaints as Clary picked up the aux cord and made a move to plug her phone in. She didn't go with her boy bands this time, since Jace had already rolled with it last time and had no complaints, instead just tapping into an album by The 1975 and letting it play quietly as they drove through the city. It was quiet, but not in an awkward way that it was with some people, so Clary was okay with that, and she liked watching Jace work the gears as they came to stop at a red light, and then accelerated smoothly through when they switched to green.

His hands were big and his fingers were long.

It was putting a lot of ideas in her head.

A lot.

The dessert bar that Jace had picked out wasn't a fancy place like _Nino's_, which surprised Clary a bit and calmed her down even more, even if she did feel a bit overdressed once they got inside. But Jace was dressed up even fancier than she was, and there were a couple of girls in there who looked as though they must be on their way to some event because they were all dolled up in long dresses and high hair as well.

"Okaaaay," Clary hummed out.

"What's up?" Jace had an amused look on his face as he moved to stand next to her, obviously already have decided on what he was going to pick.

"I can't decide on a slice of the banana and peach cake, or a slice of a cherry pie," Clary said as she glanced between the two desserts. "Fuck it, I'm gonna do eenie-meenie-miney-moe," she shrugged and there was a laugh from Jace.

"_Or_, as adorable as that would be to watch, I could just get you both," Jace put a hand on her waist and steered her toward the counter. Clary's eyebrows lifted at the offer, but she wasn't going to argue, and Jace's big hand on her waist felt nice, warm through the thin material of her dress.

"Hi!" The girl behind the counter was big smiles and wandering eyes as she looked between Jace and Clary.

Clary _may_ have taken half a step closer to Jace, _just_ in case the girl thought for half a second that they weren't together.

Because they _definitely_ were.

"Can we get a slice of the banana and peach cake, the cherry pie and..." he trailed off and looked back into the cabinet. "And the double chocolate cake?"

"Boring," Clary coughed under her breath and Jace shot her a cheeky glance before looking back at the girl behind the counter and smiling.

"All to take away?" She asked in a peppy voice.

"Yes, thank you," Jace replied, and his hand fell from her waist so that he could pull his wallet out of his pocket and slide out his credit card, but almost as soon as it was gone it was returning, pressing gently against her waist and fingers curving over her hip a little. Clary liked the way it felt just a _touch_ possessive, but not enough to be annoying, and she let herself move a bit closer again, as Jace paid and then awkwardly shuffled his credit card back into his wallet with only one hand, and then put it into his pocket on the other side this time. The worker moved away to get their dessert and Jace half turned to Clary, resting his hand on the counter top, and his eyes were soft as they looked down at her, soft and gold. "How are you feeling?" He asked and Clary wrinkled her nose as she looked up at him, face confused. "Before...You were feeling a bit off?"

And _that_ was fucking embarrassing.

Clary had almost suppressed the memory of the nerves getting on top of her when they had first left her apartment, and then it all came rushing back and she felt like an idiot, because she _never_ felt nervous around guys or when she was going on dates and Jace was lovely and he had brought her flowers and everything and then she almost had a weird breakdown just outside her front door.

"I'm totally fine," Clary told Jace as the girl came back with their food, handing over a paper bag and flashing a smile that Jace returning politely, although it was clear his attention was fully on Clary as he put slight pressure on her waist, and they moved on from the counter, walking toward the door.

"I'm just as happy to go to a pizza place!" Jace told her with a grin. "Pizza is great!"

"Damn right pizza is great, you're never going to hear me denying that," Clary agreed with a few determined nods. "But I was promised _Nino's_, so I want _Nino's_." Jace's smile grew, and Clary's heart beat stupidly fast in her chest, so instead of thinking about that, she hip checked him playfully and then snatched the bag of desserts of his hands, skipping off in front of him toward where his car was parked.

**Alright, so, obviously I didn't update last month. My bad. I'm in a pretty shitty spot, to be honest, mentally and physically and I've just got a lot going on right now. I'm still dealing with the abrupt loss of a family member and the fall out of that on my family and recently my husband has had a colleague take his life, which has brought up a lot for him. We're going to be okay, we're dealing with things, but I just need to take a breath right now. When I am in front of my computer and I'm actually focused enough to write, I'm not sticking to the schedules that I had before and I'm just writing what I really feel like which unfortunately hasn't been these stories. So I'm just...Gonna take a step back for a bit.**

**You guys are all beautiful, and I'll be back soon, I just need a bit of a breather to re-centre myself.**

**Since updating last, it has been World Coming Out Day and World Mental Health Day and I just wanted to say to anyone dealing with mental health issues and anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, whether you are out and loud or still processing things internally, you are all beautiful and deserve love and kindness. Just because I'm going to be away for a little bit, doesn't mean I'm unreachable, feel free to message me on my socials or on here if anyone ever wants to just chat, even if it's just about movies or songs, we all need to look after ourselves first, and then one another.**

**Much love xx**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity**  
**Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, beauties :)**

Clary was _very_ glad that she had gone out and gotten a new dress for the date tonight, because she was pretty sure nothing else in her closet would have been up to standard for _Nino's_. In fact, she was pretty sure even her _new_ dress wasn't up to standard, but Jace was sitting opposite her, eyes practically glued on hers as though she was the only important thing in the whole room, and it was fucking electric.

The servers were attentive and quick and the food service than pretty much anywhere else Clary had ever been, although, to be totally fair, most of the places she went to her shoes stuck to the floor from all the grease and oil.

It got a little awkward when Jace ordered a bottle of wine for the table and the girl in her crisp dark red and black uniform turned toward Clary—probably for the first time since they had sat down, actually, most of the focus on Jace since it was clear that he was the one most comfortable in this space—and asked to see her ID.

Clary handed it over and met the girls eyes defiantly as she looked between the piece of plastic and then Clary, and then back down at the ID. So _maybe_ Clary had been hungover the day before she had gotten the photo taken for her ID, and _maybe_ she'd also been letting Helen's friend who was going through beauty school dye her hair so it was a tacky black the week of the photo, and _maybe_ she was naturally small for her age so she understood having to do a second take, but she had a feeling that by the third look up, the girl was just trying to rub it in.

"Is there a problem?" Jace asked, voice sounded a little terse, which was weirdly attractive, and that prompted the server to quickly give the ID back and flash a smile and assure them that she would have the bottle of wine brought over shortly and be back to take their order. Clary tucked her ID away, back in her clutch and then looked across at Jace, who was smiling over at her.

"So," Clary stated.

"So," Jace responded easily.

"This place is nice," Clary looked around, and she was glad that they had gotten a table near the back, tucked away from all the bustle.

"Yeah," Jace nodded. "I've only been here a couple of times, but it's always been good." Because of _course_ he had come here before—Clary could literally only come here because someone else was footing the bill, but this was probably just a casual stop for him. "I take it things went well with Izzy, then?" There was a small smile on his face and Clary felt so much more at ease than what she had expected, even though she had technically _expected_ to feel at ease? Because she had had a good time with him before and that was why she was here in the first place? So why was she surprised?

"Yeah, she did," Clary nodded, taking a sip from the iced water in front of her. "She just said that we couldn't have sex in this dress, since it's one of our shared dresses." Jace's eyes widened at that and he blinked at her in surprise, and Clary couldn't help but let out a laugh as she reached out to pick up her glass of water and take a sip.

"Right..." Jace said slowly, picking up his own glass and drinking from it a lot slower than Clary had. Clary wasn't sure what she was expecting when sex was brought up for the first time, but she just wanted to get it off her chest, make sure he knew that it was on the table.

Because it definitely was.

Hell, _she_ wanted to be on the table, right here, right now if he was willing.

"How has work been? How's Helen?" Jace asked as he recovered quite quickly, putting down his glass but leaving his hand on the table so that his fingers were gently resting in her space on the table. But Clary couldn't help but feel her eyebrows pull together as she looked back up at Jace.

"You remember me mentioning Helen?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Of course," Jace smiled at her easily, not looking offended. "She sounds important to you." There was a stupid fluttery feeling in her stomach at that. She was pretty sure she had only mentioned Helen once or twice, generally when Jace was messaging her while she was at work, and it wasn't as though she was as close to Helen as she was with Izzy, Simon and Jordan, but she was still a good friend.

"Yeah...She is," Clary couldn't help but smile, and then the waitress was coming back with the bottle of wine, flashing a big smile at Jace and ignoring Clary again, even as she was pouring their glasses. Clary arched an eyebrow as the waitress stepped back and then glanced between them quickly before her gaze settled back on Jace.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked them and Jace looked over at Clary, who made a face and picked up the menu.

To be totally honest, looking at the menu was purely a facade, because she had gone online and looked through the menu at least six times since Jace had said that this was where he was going to bring her, and she had decided on her dinner _long_ in advance.

"I'm ready if you are," Clary smiled brightly over at Jace and he nodded, placing his order first. Jace got a fancy sounding marinara and Clary got the _costolette di agnello_, and then the waitress was leaving them again. Clary picked up her wine glass and took a sizable mouthful, which she really shouldn't have done, because this was _decent_ red wine, and it was a bit of an assault on her senses, and she swallowed like a champ, because she had years of practice, and then looked over at Jace again.

"So?" He prompted gently, not looking bothered by waiting. "Work? Helen?"

"Oh, right!" Clary's stomach did that stupid fluttering thing again because he sounded so genuinely interested in her even though his life _had_ to be so much more fun. "Well—me and Helen saw someone watching furry porn in the labs the other day?" Clary snorted in a very unladylike manner and then she froze for a second, because she was in a _nice as fuck __restaurant_ and _she had just brought up furry porn_. Her eyes flicked up to Jace, who was sitting opposite her—looking all fancy and rich in his fitted suit—and he was holding his glass of wine in his big hand with his thick fingers and he was _laughing_.

Thank _fuck_.

Most of her nerves from earlier had disappeared, but in that moment, she actually felt them all disappear.

Things just felt easy.

Jace loved _Star Wars_, which thanks to Simon and Jordan, Clary had seen every single one of the original six movies three times over and all of the new ones _and_ the new show with the adorable baby Yoda, so Clary could keep up with any conversation he wanted to have on that front.

She nearly left when he admitted he'd never seen an episode of _RuPaul Drags Race_, and he clearly saw his mistake because his eyes widened at the horror on her face, but then when he admitted that he had watched _The Great British Bake Off_ religiously, she decided to settle back in her seat.

"You're on thin ice, though," she grumbled and Jace smiled across at her, eyes all sparkly, as though she was the most charming thing in the world.

Which she _was_.

The food was brought out and it was _amazing_, the best thing that Clary had eaten in _forever_, and she was practically orgasming over her plate, not realizing how loud she was being until she looked over at Jace and the way he had a forkful of food halfway to his mouth and was staring at her with dark eyes.

Clary couldn't help but lick her lips slowly as they held eye contact, and her stomach did flips and her heart fluttered stupidly in her chest, and Jace was the first one to break their gaze, looking down at their food. Clary couldn't help but stretch her legs out a little under the table, and her ankle pressed against Jace's leg as she braced the heel of her shoe against the ground. She felt him tense for a moment, then his eyes flicked up again, a smile pulling at his lips, before he tipped his leg to the side a bit so that he was returning the pressure.

Clary grinned as she went back to her ridiculously priced meal.

It turned out that Jace preferred dogs to cats but he wasn't home enough for it to be fair for him to have a dog of his own. Sad as all hell, but understandable. Clary and her friends couldn't have pets because of their apartment rules, but if they were allowed to, she would _one hundred percent_ have a cat.

He loved travelling, and it seemed as though he had been _everywhere_ that Clary wanted to go, although most of the time it had been because of work. Boring as shit. Although it made her grin and giggle into her expensive wine when he said that maybe he could take her next time he had to go somewhere for work.

He had lived in New York for the past five years but before that had grown up in Los Angeles and been based there. So they had that in common, since Clary had been here her whole life, her mum and Luke only moving after she had moved out and Luke had gotten a promotion.

The last concert that he had been to was Elton John—and not one of the farewell tours that he was on now, but his _Greatest Hits Tour_, which was when Clary was thirteen and she didn't even want to think about what age he was, so _that_ was something. The last concert Clary had gone to was Yungblud at an underground club with Jordan, and they'd gotten so drunk that Izzy had sent snapchats to everyone of the pair of them crying over how brilliant the artist had been.

Maybe things should have been awkward, since this was only the second time that they were probably spending time together alone, but it wasn't.

Jace looked at her with a smile and glittering eyes as though he was interested in everything that she had to say, and he was _funny_ and made her laugh and he looked damn good doing it.

Their dinner plates were taken away and they were offered the dessert menu, which Jace looked over at Clary for, and she rolled her eyes.

"We already _got_ dessert," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but we got that to takeaway," Jace smiled over at her. "You could get one now, and then have that one tomorrow."

"Or I could have it when I get home. There's no law against having two desserts, Jace," Clary replied as she pointed her wine glass at him and Jace's smile just grew, the smile lines in his face deepening.

"We'll get those menus, thank you," he said, looking back up at their waitress, and she nodded as she passed them over, her attention once again on Jace, rather than Clary. But Clary really didn't care, because her leg had been pushed up against Jace's under the table all night, and he had reached over at one point and traced his fingers gently against the back of her hand and she was wearing an amazing red thong under her dress that made her feel like a total babe, so she wasn't intimidated by the waitress who seemed intent on ignoring her.

They decided on a tiramisu to share, although Jace blatantly let Clary have more than half, and Clary couldn't help but briefly wonder if she was the type of girl who wanted to be fed a bit of the dessert off a lovers fork in the cutesy way.

She wasn't.

She had her own fork and Jace scooped off smaller mouthfuls than she wanted.

Even after they had finished their dessert, and were down to the last dregs of the wine bottle that Jace had ordered for the table, they were still talking, and Clary's cheeks were flushed red, from the company and the flirting and the alcohol. It was going on quarter to twelve when Clary looked down at her phone and saw that she had _multiple_ messages from her flatmates, as well as Helen blowing up the group chat with Izzy trying to find out how the date was going and then she finally looked around the restaurant and blinked when she saw that there were only a few other people still there.

"Oh, shit," she giggled. "I didn't realize how late it had gotten." Jace glanced around and his eyebrows lifted, and it was nice to know that he hadn't been looking around either, that he hadn't noticed how late it had gotten.

She was good company and _clearly_ he was aware of that.

"I should probably go up and pay," Jace said. "And then I'll get you home, okay?" He leaned back in his chair, and for the first time in several hours, they were no longer touching, and Clary's ankle immediately felt cold.

And he was taking her _home_?

Jace was already standing up and taking his jacket off the back of his seat where he had hung it an hour or so ago when he had warmed up, and Clary couldn't help but pout as she did the same. He smiled over at her and then stopped when he saw the way her bottom lip was sticking out, and he arched an eyebrow, his smile turning to something else, something a little darker that made her thighs want to clench together and have her flipping up her dress and showing him the fucking sexy, expensive underwear.

"Come on, love," Jace's voice was soft as he reached out an arm, and Clary blinked up at him.

He _clearly_ saw that she wanted to _not_ go home.

Or, she wanted to go to a home, just not _hers_.

She wanted to go to _his_.

And let him have his way with her—because she damn well knew that it was going to be amazing.

Although!

She did like being called _love_.

Clary took his arm and let him lead the way up to the counter. He paid quickly, with a wave of his credit card, and Clary didn't even get a glimpse at the price. She was pretty sure she would have had a heart attack even if she did, though, so that was probably for the best. Jace gave her arm a squeeze as he lead the way out of the restaurant, stepping in front of her and letting go of her arm as he pushed open the door and waited for her to exit in front of him.

There was a tension in the car on the drive home, and Clary didn't even make a fuss about plugging her phone into the radio even though she generally couldn't _stand_ the radio playing it's ads and the stupid talk back between hosts, and she was pretty sure Jace saw the way her knees were pressed together and her thighs clenched a few times, because there was an _ache_ between her legs.

An ache that it didn't seem as though Jace was going to be fucking relieving, given they were making a very direct route back to her apartment building.

When he parked opposite her building and turned off the car, the lights all flicking off and leaving them in relative darkness, other than the lights that were coming through the windows in tiny puddles from the street lamps, and even though Clary was _aware_ that there were cars passing them on the street outside and there were at least three different types of music being played in the shops and buildings around them, but it honestly felt like they were in their own little bubble, and the only thing that Clary was listening to was the sound of their breathing.

"I'll walk you up," Jace said quietly, reaching out and brushing a few fingers against her bare knee, and Clary tried to ignore the sparks that skittered over her skin. His smile seemed darker, and Clary wasn't sure if it was because of the shadows, but it made her stomach dip and twirl like she was on a tilt-a-whirl. Jace got out of the car first, and as Clary was reaching for the door handle, Jace was already quickly walking around to the passenger side of the car and grabbing the door, opening it for, and Clary flashed a smile up at him once she was steady in her heels.

"You know there's still time, right?" Clary prompted him with a raise of her eyebrows. Jace tilted his head to the side as he looked down at her.

"Time for what?" He asked softly and Clary narrowed her eyes because he knew what she meant.

"To go back to your place," she said, and _maybe_ her voice came out a touch sulky. Jace's lips stretched in another smile, and they were out of the car and right underneath a lamp now, so she could _see_ that there was some darker intent in the smile, but he still didn't lunge at her mouth and _devour_ her like she wanted him to.

"Come on, love," Jace reached down and took her hand, thick fingers sliding between hers. "Let's get you upstairs." Clary huffed a bit under her breath because this wasn't _fair_.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been on an actual date, because that's not how people operated when they were in college—at least not to _this_ degree—but she was pretty sure that most actual dates resulted in some sex? At least some under the shirt action? Even if it was just some fooling around in the car?

She really wanted to fool around with Jace!

They took the elevator up to her floor and walked slowly toward her apartment door, not saying anything. There was loud music coming from the corner apartment, but there always was on Friday and Saturday nights, sometimes on the Thursday as well, and then there was also the faint smell of weed coming from the apartment door opposite Clary's, definitely nowhere near as fancy as what Jace was probably used to, but she liked it. It was theirs. They reached the door and came to a natural stop, although neither of them let go of the others hand.

"So..." Clary murmured, glancing over at Jace from underneath her thick eyelashes. If it was some random college guy, she'd invite him in and not care that she only had a single bed with a Hannah Montana duvet cover since her other one needed to be washed.

But she really didn't want _that_, even though she didn't want this to be over.

"So," Jace smiled down at her, and the slyness from earlier was gone, which was both good _and_ bad, but his hand was still tightly wrapped around hers. "When can I see you again?" Clary blinked up at him, and then her cheeks began to heat up. She could feel the tips of her ears turning hot and Jace's smile widened, looking completely endeared.

Rightfully so. She was adorable.

Even when her body was being all embarassing.

"Do I get a kiss goodnight?" Clary asked, clearing her throat so it didn't come out quite as high pitched as it initially would have.

"Do you want a kiss goodnight?" Jace's smile was a teasing one, which just wasn't fucking fair.

"Course I do," her lower lip stuck out a little in a pout, and Jace let out a laugh under his breath before he was leaning in, and even in the heels that she was wearing, he towered over her. He crowded her in, body warm and smelling subtly of cologne, and she hadn't realized that she had taken a few steps back until her back came in contact with the wall beside her door, and the thing was—_he didn't stop moving_. He kept crowding her, surrounding her, his thighs pinning hers to the wall, one hand gripping hers tightly while the other moved to press to her hip, a thumb firm against the bone while the fingers curled around her hip. His nose brushed against hers, once, twice, and Clary's breath caught in her throat as his lips _finally_ grazed hers.

She had thought that their first kiss had been good.

This one left it in the dust.

Jace kissed her firmly, intently, thoroughly, first with his lips molding over hers and letting go of her hand to come up to her chin and held her face in the way that he wanted it, and her whole body felt as though went boneless under his touches. When she felt the tip of his tongue touch to her upper lip, a shiver went through her and she couldn't stop her gasp as her mouth opened, letting him in. Jace's tongue slipped inside without hesitation and Clary felt heat pool in the pit of her stomach and Jace's hands on her face and on her hip felt like a brand that was burning into her skin and her hands came up to grab at his shoulders, because it honestly felt as though her legs were only seconds away from giving out from underneath her. His tongue smoothed over hers and then flicked up at the roof of her mouth before she felt his teeth gently press against her plump lower lip and another shiver went through her.

When Jace pulled back, it was slowly, and his hands were still on her, and he gently leaned his forehead against hers as he waited for her to catch her breath.

"Shit," Clary whined out a little, tugging at his jacket with her fingers and Jace huffed out a laugh under his breath as he pulled back more to look at her face, cupping her jaw and gently running his thumb over her bottom lip.

"Thank you for letting me take you out tonight, love," Jace said, and his voice was deep and a little raspy, and it made Clary squeeze her thighs together, feeling the lace of her thong stretch tighter between her legs. "When can I see you again?"

"Um..." Clary cleared her throat again and she was glad that was being held up between the wall and Jace's body or she might be melting in a puddle on the ground at the sound of Jace's voice, which was clearly deeper and raspier because of how the kiss had effected him, and that was fucking hot. "Anytime you want." _That_ was clearly the right answer, because she got another blinding smile, and then Jace was leaning in again.

This time, though, she only got a brief kiss on the corner of her mouth, but it still made her knees weak.

"I'll message you in the morning," he murmured and Clary nodded before Jace was stepping back, hands slowing falling back to her side.

He waited until she fumbled in her bag for her keys and unlocked her front door.

He was maybe still waiting as she shut her door and let out a squeal of happiness.

She didn't care.

**So obviously it's been a while, and there's a lot of songs that I haven't recommended! I've just decided to log into that website thing that shows your top tracks, so these are my short term top ten. 1) _She_ \- Harry Styles. 2) _Radio_ \- Lana Del Rey. 3) _Living Proof_ \- Camila Cabello. 4) _Hazel_ \- Carlie Hanson. 5) _September Song_ \- JP Cooper. 6) _We Made It_ \- Louis Tomlinson. 7) _All My Friends_ \- AJ Mitchell. 8) _The Sound_ \- The 1975. 9) _Wrong Direction_ \- Hailee Steinfield. 10) _Dazed & Confused_ \- Ruel. Bonus song would be _You Should Be Sad_ by Halsey, which is fucking amazing, so far my second favourite of the released tracks from Manic.**

**There's been a lot of amazing TV shows that have recently come out; _The Witcher/His Dark Materials/Watchmen/The Mandalorian_. These are all amazing, incredible acting, the sets and scenery and costume design is just A+. Also _Spinning Out_ was really good, I absolutely loved Mandy and Marcus. I love when there are strong side characters that I can fall in love with, and it had good story lines.**

**I've also been to a couple of concerts that were great; Greta Van Fleet, Ruel, Shawn Mendes and Khlaid. All bloody brilliant.**

**Now. I don't want to say much about how shit 2020 has been because we're only 14 days in and holy shit, I feel like there's a lot going on. A fucking lot. For me, what hits closest to home is Australia on fire. On the fifth of January our skies turned an apocalyptic orange because the winds changed and the smoke reached us here in New Zealand. I just want to say to everyone who is dealing with anything right now—it doesn't matter how big or small—I love you and you're not alone x**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity**  
**Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	9. Chapter 9

Clary spun around in her chair and hung her head back, staring up at the ceiling for the umpteenth time that day.

She was fucking bored.

She was bored, but she was broke, and so when she had gotten a text from the person who managed the photography lab, she had begrudgingly said _yes_, even though she really just wanted to get her two classes of the day out of the way and then possibly catch the bus in to see Jace.

Who she hadn't seen since _Saturday_ when they hadn't even had sex.

The kisses had been nice though.

Really nice.

So nice that she had gotten herself off three times now to the memory of Jace pinning her against the wall and kissing her senseless, and she could only _imagine_ how many more times she would be able to get herself off once there was some_ under the clothes_ action happening finally. Simon and Jordan had both still been up when she had gotten back home—Izzy was apparently out on a date, which was a bit weird because Simon and Izzy had sort of been dancing around each other lately and it had seemed as though something might happen, but maybe not—and they had immediately wanted details when she had walked in, looking all dazed and swollen lipped. She had ignored them both, going straight to her room, stripping out of her dress since she didn't want to explain to Izzy that while her and Jace hadn't actually had _sex_ in the dress she'd still had an _orgasm_ in it, and then gotten herself off so hard that she had fallen asleep seconds later, completely forgetting to plug in her phone or even get under her covers.

_Entertain meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_

And then she added a bunch of emojis at the end, flowers and bunny rabbits and weird road signs, leaving it up to Jace to try and decipher them if he chose to. Maybe Clary could be a little needy at times, but if her and Jace were going to have a thing, or whatever it was that was happening, then he should be aware of that.

But she also knew that he was usually busy through the day, running his company and being all adult and in charge, so she tossed her phone back onto the desk and started spinning around again, not expecting an answer straight away.

She always regretted picking up extra shifts, especially on a Wednesday, but the money would be worth it when she got paid, given she was working nearly a full eight hour shift, which she _never_ did.

**_I know you don't have class right now, since it's Wednesday, so why are you bored?_**

Clary couldn't help but squeal and do a little dance at the stupid fact that_ Jace knew her schedule_, and she got a dark look from someone who was using one of the computers near her, and she shot them back a glare, because that guy was in here_ all the time_, but he never used the dark room and she hardly ever saw him using the actual photography software on the computers, so he could just be using the normal computer lab instead. He probably just came here because it was less busy and there was more availability on the computers.

Definitely meant he didn't have the right to give her dirty looks when she was just sitting there, half-assing her job.

_Picked up an extra shift. Need that cash money_

**_Oh yeah? Is there something you're saving up for? Or just to put away?_**

Clary rolled her eyes at that.

'_To put away_'. As in _savings_—she almost snorted at that word. She had her sock money, which was her_ back up_ money, which she might eventually use to buy a new laptop with if she stopped having to dip into it, but she didn't really think of it as her savings._ Putting money away _and _having savings_ sounded like _such_ an adult thing, and it was something that she _definitely_ didn't have.

_Life, Jace. I just need money to liiiiiive_

**_So nothing special then?_**

Clary wrinkled her nose and tapped out of her texts, into the notes app on her phone where she had a wish list of things that she wanted. She had it separated into two sections, because she was organised like that and lists were nice and made her feel accomplished in the small way, for the stuff that was on her _short term_ wish list, which were things like her hair professionally highlighted, rather than just getting a cheap job from a friend of a friend who was studying to become a hair dresser, new shoes and a new party dress—which she could probably take off now. Although technically her and Izzy were going to share the dress, so that didn't really make it hers...Clary blinked as another text came through, her brain completely side tracked as she thought about whether she should take the dress off her list or not.

**_Didn't you say you needed new photo lights? And a laptop?_**

Clary made a face, because _yes_, she did need both of those things, _especially_ a new laptop, although the photo lights would come in handy as well, given she wasn't going to be a student next year and she couldn't just keep hiring the lights from the university. Besides, she _wanted_ to have her own lights so that she could advertise for work without having to worry about booking in lights and working around others schedules for equipment.

Her laptop was beginning to smell a bit when it had been turned on for over two hours, and apparently there was something wrong with the internal fan, and when she was Skyping with Jonathan last week, he had laughed at the fact that she was peeling at tiny butterfly stickers that were stuck to the inside of the laptop that she'd put there sometime in her last year of high school.

_Yeees. But that's a long term plan. Ew. Or a long term idea. I don't have any plans, exactly_

It kind of made her sound like a ditz, she realized after she had sent it, but it was true. She didn't have an _exact_ plan after she had graduated, not like Simon did—or like Alec had. She scrunched up her face at that, because every now and then, Luke would ask her what she was planning on doing once she graduated, and she had a feeling that he was starting to panic a little bit the closer they got and she was just replying with,_ be a photographer, Luke, duh_. It was just the idea of being out of college was kind of scary, to be honest, and even though she had every confidence in her skills, she was also very aware that there were _a lot_ of aspiring photographers in her city and she was going to have to be close to the top to make it.

It was a good thing she did a _damn good job_ whenever she was hired to do private jobs, she always got great reviews left by clients on the Facebook page she had set up and always got glowing praise from her professors.

That reminded her though...

_I have a job on Saturday morning! I'm back up photographer for a wedding!_

**_That's amazing, Clary! Are you working with anyone you know?_**

_It's one of my old profs students. She recommended me a while ago, and I've worked with her before. We had good vibes and she pays me well_

_Plus it adds more to my 'work portfolio' which is good_

"Um, excuse me?" There was a tentative voice that made Clary look up from her phone, and there was a girl with curly blonde hair and cute blue glasses standing there. She had that wide eyed look of a first year about her, and Clary put her phone down and gave her a smile. The girl seemed to relax a bit, seeing that Clary was actually prepared to help her and wasn't just going to try and fob her off. "I was wondering if you could help with me book some of the equipment?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Clary nodded, pushing her phone aside—even though she unfortunately saw it light up with Jace's name from an incoming text message—and tapped her fingers away on the work computer to pull up the list of equipment and the sign out list. She spent ten minutes with the girl, helping her with lights and a camera, giving her the usual spiel of looking after the equipment and swiping her Student ID card so that it was logged in the system in case something happened while the equipment was in her care. Once the girl was gone, Clary picked up her phone and saw there were a couple of messages from Jace.

**_It's always good to get as much added to your portfolio before you graduate, makes you more appealing to future employers._**

Clary snorted at that, it sounded like something that Luke would say, and instead, it was _Jace_, the guy that she wanted to get in the pants of.

Then she froze, because that was a weird thought, so she shook her head and looked down at the next message.

**_Did you need your photography lights for your job on Saturday? Or are you using ones from the school?_**

_It's an outdoor wedding, and I'm not doing all the up close shots, so I don't need any lights, Layla will have her own for all of that. I just need my camera and stuff_

_AnyWAY! I said, entertain me! Tell me something about yourself_

She stared at her phone for a few beats, waiting for a message to come through, but there was nothing for all of thirty seconds, so she threw it back on top of the desk and turned on her own laptop, clearing some space so that she could spread out some of her books from her classes that morning. She managed to get about two minutes of studying in before her phone pinged with a message from Jace, which immediately shifted her attention with a bright grin.

**_I have seen Lilo & Stitch more times than I can count._**

And that was simply the_ best fucking thing_. Clary was about to tell him that when she got another message, and then a third one.

**_I love mac and cheese but I haven't had it in years._**

That just made Clary sad, because mac and cheese was the _best_ comfort food, after pizza and her mums lasagna, and everyone should have mac and cheese at least once a month, even if it was the disgusting packet stuff where she had to dump extra cheese on it to hide the terrible, gluey pasta pieces.

**_And I miss you._**

Clary squealed again, before promptly pulling the fingers at Dirty Stare Guy when he glowered over at her again.

* * *

As much as Clary wanted to see Jace again that weekend, she was going to be working all day on Saturday, and when she got home after a job, she always wanted to spend a few hours going through her photos, even if she didn't start any editing, just to see what she had gotten and send a couple shots through to her client so that they got an idea of what was coming. It wasn't that she doubted that she could do a good job, but it was always nice seeing the photos on a bigger screen than the small one of her camera. Jace said he completely understood, because he _of course_ he did, he was the nicest guy in the whole wide world, and asked if they could do lunch sometime through the week, which she was all in for, and she text Izzy while she was standing on the bus, coming home from the wedding, bags heavy on her shoulders.

_Movie night tonight?_

**_Wanna get high and watch Midsommar?_**

_Isn't that a horror?!_

**_Yeah, but we'll be together. Don't be a little bitch_**

_Oh yeah, all these boxes showed up for you too_

Clary frowned down at her phone, her body easily rolling with the rhythm of the bus as it turned around a corner and then jolted to a stop. She was more than used to the jerky corners and stops of buses by now, and easily moved to the side as people behind her got off, then quickly sniped one of the now-free seats, even though she only had another five or so minutes on the bus.

_Boxes?_

**_Yeah. Did you spend, like, ALL your sock money or something?_**

Not the last time Clary checked.

_I didn't order anything. I'll be back soon_

Clary scrunched up her nose as she looked out the window, trying to remember if Luke or her mum had said they were going to be sending her anything. She was pretty sure they weren't, her mum hadn't mentioned any type of care package when they had spoken on the phone last time, although it would be a total bonus if she had, but _multiple_ boxes? That was weird.

It was two more stops, and then Clary got off, her feet dragging a little in the heels that she had been wearing all day. She should have been smarter about it, like Layla Johansson had been, and worn flat shoes, but she'd only shot at two other weddings before and she always felt the expectation to dress up a bit so she didn't stick out. Plus, she already looked like a fucking child, given how short she was and her kind-of baby face, she didn't want people doubting her capabilities because she didn't look the part. So she had worn one of Izzy's floaty dresses and a pair of sling back heels that had been comfortable for the first hour or so, but definitely felt as though they were trying to cripple her now.

"Holy...Shit," Clary breathed out as she stepped into their apartment and saw_ all the boxes_ that Izzy had been talking about. Her friend suddenly popped up from where she had been laying on the sofa, wide eyed and nodding her head crazily.

"I _know_, right?! What the _fuck_?! Everything arrived about half an hour ago! The delivery guys just confirmed that you lived here and then dropped it all off!" Izzy was grinning and wiggling her shoulders as she bounced up from the couch and came over to stand next to Clary, looking around at the boxes and her hands twitching at her sides, clearly eager to start ripping at the cardboard, ties and tape that were hiding whatever it was inside.

"And they didn't say anything?" Clary asked as she dropped her bag, and then _placed_ her camera bag down more carefully, because that shit was expensive, kicking off her shoes and feeling a lot more comfortable when her bare feet were flat on the wooden floors. "What the _fuck_? Who just drops this shit off and doesn't say anything?"

"Oh my _god_, just fucking open it," Izzy sounded impatient, shoving at Clary's side and pulling at her hair, making the redhead retaliate and flick her cheek. "Come _on_."

"Alright, alright," Clary muttered, but she couldn't help her own smile as she picked up one of the smaller boxes, on top of two others, and held out a hand to Izzy. "Well, make yourself useful then. I need scissors." Izzy rolled her eyes at her and as she walked past Clary to go into the kitchen, her hand lashed out as though she was going to try and pull her hair again, but Clary just giggled and ducked her head. She couldn't help the feeling of excitement that was building in her chest as she looked around at the boxes—there were six of them, she counted in her head—trying to work out what the fuck was going on. Two of them were _really big_ boxes as well, the kind that she could literally fit into without much effort and close up and hide in, one box that still looked reasonably big, and then three smaller ones of varying size.

"We should totally hide in these boxes when the boys arrive home and jump out when they come over to find out what they are," Izzy said as she came back with scissors and Clary let out a squeal, eyes dancing.

"I was _just_ thinking the same thing!" She cried and Izzy smirked, but then their complete attention fell to Clary's hand as she cut through the ties of the top box and then the tape. She opened it up and there was some bubble wrap and wadded up paper inside that was obviously protecting the package and when she pulled it all out, her eyes widened.

"What is it?!" Izzy demanded, looking past Clary and into the box as Clary pulled it out. It was folded up, but Clary knew what it was, even as she was opening it up.

"It's...A beauty dish," she said quietly.

"For your photography?" Izzy asked, her voice soft as she looked at the dish and Clary nodded dumbly, fingers gently running along the edge of the dish now that it was unfolded. It was a collapsible one, which meant it would be easy for her to pack up and carry around to shoots, but it felt solid under her touch, so it was also a good brand.

_Nothing_ she could afford, and something she really doubted Luke or her mum could afford, especially if there was _more_.

Izzy had gone quiet, not pushing Clary to open up the boxes, letting her take her time, which was good. She moved the open box and the bubble wrap and paper out of the way so that Clary could gently put the beauty dish down on the couch and then begin opening the next box.

There was also a Colour Checker, a sturdy tripod, a Softbox and _two_ sets of lights, which was when it clicked.

_Jace_.

"It was _Jace_," Clary's breath caught in her throat as she looked at the two sets of brand new photography lights that seemed to be..._Hers_? She blinked as she stared down at the strobe lights and the speed lights, completely overwhelmed, not knowing what to say as Izzy moved to sit on the ground next to her, reaching out her pinky to touch the back of Clary's hand.

"Jace got you these?" Izzy asked softly and Clary nodded slowly.

"I...Think so?" She said slowly, tilting her head to the side. "We were talking about how I needed photography lights, but I—I mean—" she cut herself off, suddenly feeling _very_ out of her depth, and her heart was thudding in her chest and her brain felt as though it was short circuiting before she suddenly snapped her head to the side to look at Izzy. "I didn't _ask_ him to get me these things, Iz—I'm not trying to get him to spend all his money on me, I—I wouldn't do that—"

"Clary," Izzy cut her off, letting out a laugh that wasn't mean at all. "I don't think that, don't worry." She looked around at the unpacked boxes and all of the equipment that was carefully piled up. "But, hey. If my cousin is turning out to be your sugar daddy or something, just make sure it's all fun and consensual," she jiggled her shoulders and despite how shocked Clary was in that moment, she couldn't help but let out a laugh, although it still sounded disbelieving. "Now text him and say thank you. Or—text Helen. See what _sugar daddies_ usually want as a thank you." Clary couldn't resist poking her tongue out at Izzy, and that seemed to break the tension, so Izzy stood up and started moving to pack up the rubbish.

Clary still sat there for a few minutes, processing all of the _expensive shit that she now apparently owned_.

Then she text Helen.

_I think Jace might be my sugar daddy? How do you say thank you if he's just brought me a bunch of amazing shit?_

It didn't take long for a reply to come through.

**_Put those panties on and go sit on his cock, giiiiiiiiiirl! Get that D!_**

And then there were a bunch of peach and tongue and water drop emojis, because Helen was classy as fuck and not at all helpful and Clary groaned and let her head fall backwards against the front door.

**Okay, so my top songs this week are as follows;**

**1) _Walls_ \- Louis Tomlinson. 2) _Alanis' Interlude_ \- Halsey and Alanis Morissette. 3) _Venice Bitch_ \- Lana Del Rey. 4) _Fake Love_ \- BTS. 5) _Too Young_ \- Louis Tomlinson. 6) _Always You_ \- Louis Tomlinson. 7) _Mikrokosmos_ \- BTS. 8) _Caught Up In Your Storm_ \- Mickey Guyton. 9) _8TEEN_ \- Khalid. 10) _Heebiejeebies_ \- Aminé and Kehlani.**

**The song that my husband hasn't stopped playing is _Dionysus_ by BTS. We've been on a total BTS buzz lately, totally jumping on that train, even if we're a little late. My hubby's faves are Suga, Jungkook and Namjoon—he completely swoons everytime Suga comes on stage or starts rapping. Haha. Mine would be Namjoon, who I, admittedly, swoon over everytime he comes on screen, and then Jungkook, even if he's too pretty to even exist.**

**In one of my reviews, _KnivesOut_ recomended _Anne With An E_ which I have actually watched before although I haven't finished yet, and I definitely want to recommend to you guys! I remember reading the books when I was younger and loving them, and there's just something about this series that has brought it all back. I've also started watching _Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood_ when me and my husband are high, and I'm super into it. Haha.**

**I think my weekly updates are going to slow down a bit for a few weeks, although I think I had a good run! So I'll be doing previews of the next chapter if you leave a review and let me know if you want one or not.**

**Also, feel free to hit me up on my socials;  
****Tumblr: SereneCalamity  
****Twitter: CalamitySerene**

**xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey beautiful people :)**

**Okay. So. I wanted to say something about everything that is going on rather than just make a few vague comments in my posts. The situation now deserves more than that, I think. Because things are hectic right now. Things are just a smidge crazy, you know? Umm...I get awkward in tense situations and it usually results in me laughing at the wrong time or needing to go and throw up, because I throw up when I'm anxious, and let me tell you, I throw up on average three times a week generally, and that is now a daily thing, so that's super cool! Anyway.**

**Just thought I'd add in here, my husband and I woke up the other Sunday morning, read the latest updates, and by ten in the morning we were drunk and high and had made the decision not to leave the house for the rest of the day because of how scary the world seemed, so I hope you guys are handling it just as adult-like.**

**A lot of you know that I live in New Zealand. We're pretty secluded, we're pretty safe when it comes to most things. We are so_ incredibly lucky_. Compared to most countries right now, we still are safe and secluded and lucky.**

**Three weeks ago, we had no cases (at least, no one was being tested and it was not a concern at that stage). Then we had eight, then twelve, then twenty, then twenty-eight and as I'm writing this I think we're at one hundred and two, which is quite a jump for just a week and a half since we first started hearing about them.**

**There was an announcement yesterday that from midnight tomorrow, our country is going into lockdown, as there has now officially been evidence of community transmission with two of the cases. So...My husband and I are nervous but we're okay. I will be working from home, likely also working overtime, as my job is essential, and a lot of my co-workers are actually still expected to go into the office, but because of my health I'll be at home with my husband and my cats.**

**My husband will not be working, which means like a lot of people in the world right now, we're worried about meeting our financial obligations, but I would take those concerns over watching him get sick. He's been exposed to a couple of people who are reckless and stupid and have come back from overseas and not self-isolated, and one of those people are now being tested, so we have to wait for those results. One of our nieces was tested the other night, and we should have the results back by tomorrow evening. We don't have any children, but we have lots of nieces and nephews, and we have a lot of friends with children who have health issues, and we lot of elderly relatives as well, and they're all of our focus right now.**

**All around the world, we're seeing these incredible gestures of humanity that_ prove that people are good_. There's just so much shit going on, so many politicians who are trying to act as though they know everything and haven't made a single misstep (I'm not even going to pretend I'm not insinuating the horrendous lump that sits in the Oval Office), so many companies that are looking at making money off peoples suffering, and_ so much uncertainty_ and fear and we just have to remember that a majority of people_ are good_.**

**Now, even with my country going into lock down, I just wanted to say that even though I'm expected to work, I'm still going to try and get up some small oneshots along with some hopefully quicker chapters, because I feel all_ I_ can do in this crisis is possibly provide you guys with a few minutes of entertainment.**

**I just wanted to give you guys a bit of an update as to where I'm sitting in this whole...Fucking disaster. Please, feel free to message me, if you want to talk about where you guys are at, or if you guys have some ideas for some of the quick oneshots that you want to see, or if you just want to talk music or movies, I mean, we all have to be there for each other, right?**

**I love you all so much and I hope, hope, hope you and yours are all safe in this weird time,**

**Me xx**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity  
****Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, guys! I hope you're all safe! I hope you're all sane! I hope you're all blessed with brilliant house companions and high speed internet! I am trying to stay positive because the world is fucking scary, and on with the chapter!**

"Have you got any plans for tomorrow?" Jocelyn asked from the computer screen as she watched Clary move around her room, not really _tidying_, exactly, but definitely _cleaning_ and just kind of...Moving her stuff from one place to another. There was a method to her madness and as long as her room was _clean_ she didn't care if there were piles of clothes in the chair or on her tiny desk, and her make up was spilling out of the bags on top of her drawers. "You're working tomorrow, right?"

"I've got classes in the morning, and then yeah, work in the afternoon slash evening," Clary made a face and did a weird chopping motion with her hand when she said the word _slash_, even though she was facing away from her computer and her mother wouldn't be able to see her hand movements. She reached forward when she caught a glimpse of something sparkly behind her dresser drawers, missing part of what her mum said as she let out a soft _oof_ as she stretched to grab at the material trapped behind the drawers. "Ah ha!"

"Clary?" Jocelyn called her attention back and the girl spun around with the sparkly top in her hand—she was pretty sure it was actually Izzy's at some point, but she'd borrowed it when she had worn it to a party and then brought a guy back here and it had been thrown into the fray of her room and been missing ever since. It was always funny and a little nostalgic when clothes that she thought she had lost in the pursuit of an orgasm popped back up. "I asked if you were seeing anyone."

"Why do you ask that?" Clary asked, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes a bit, tightening her grip on the top as she watched her mothers facial expression.

"You look like you're tidying up your room," Jocelyn shrugged a shoulder, trying to look casual, but there was an interested glitter in her eyes that Clary knew meant Jocelyn was onto something and not planning on letting it go any time soon. "You don't really tidy your room unless you have a reason to, so I was wondering...Maybe you're doing it _for_ someone." Clary didn't say anything for a moment before her lips curved upwards in a smile and she flopped down onto her bed on her stomach, bouncing a few times as she got herself comfortable and moved her laptop so that it was in front of her.

"Okay, so..." she began and Jocelyn let out a laugh as she propped her chin up on one hand, obviously settling in as well for Clary's story. "There is a guy, but it's all really new, so I'm going to tell you _some_ stuff about him, but you can't go and tell Luke and Jonathan because you know how they can get."

"Luke will run a background check on him and ask the local police department to drop in, while Jonathan add him on every single social media platform and spam him," Jocelyn said knowingly and Clary finger-gunned as best as she could while laying on her stomach.

"_Exactly_," Clary stated and Jocelyn laughed easily.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm a vault," she mimed pulling a zipper over her lips and locking it, something that she had done for years, since Clary was little and she had done something that she didn't want anyone to know about but that she had to spill to _someone_, and so she had confided in her mum. As far as she knew, her mum had never let her down, had never leaked a secret, including the time when she had peed in the fancy dress that she had been brought for her aunts wedding because she had gotten so drunk.

"He's...He's a little bit older," Clary began, not wanting to disclose just yet _how much_ older that was. "And he's...He's really nice," she trailed off and then scrunched up her nose before looking back at the computer and meeting her mums eyes. Jocelyn had her eyebrows raised and a flat look on her face.

"That is the most generic description in the world," Jocelyn stated and Clary couldn't help but snort out a laugh. "It sounds like every outline of a serial killer that Luke hates," she continued and Clary's laughter bubbled in her chest as Jocelyn put on a deep voice that sounded _nothing_ like her husband. "He was a little bit older, tall, dark haired, handsome. Really nice. Couldn't believe he would do something like this." Clary couldn't help her laughter and Jocelyn's face relaxed again, smiling along with her daughter.

"Okay, well, to be fair—he's got golden hair," she corrected and Jocelyn nodded encouragingly. "He...He runs his own business. He doesn't care that I use heaps of emojis and send tons of texts. His house is really nice. He won't have sex with me. He took me for dinner at Nino's on our first date and then he walked me to the door. He worries I don't eat proper food. He makes my stomach squidgy." She cut herself off because she was starting to say weird things now and she wrinkled her nose and jerked her face back, running through everything that she had just said and then squinting at her mother, who was looking at her with an amused expression.

"Huh," Jocelyn uttered. Clary frowned, because like her, Jocelyn wasn't usually one for not saying much. She waited for more, but Jocelyn didn't add anything and so Clary just frowned deeper until Jocelyn let out a laugh. "Well, when you're ready to tell me more, and maybe even send me a picture, I'm interested."

"Yeah, yeah," Clary mumbled, _incredibly_ grateful that her mother was throwing in her face the fact that she had admitted that a man she wasn't having sex with was making her stomach squidgy. Some people might think it was weird talking about sex with their mothers, but she had always had a very open relationship with Jocelyn. They were very similar and had clashed a lot when Clary had been growing up, especially when Jocelyn and Valentine Morgenstern were going through their divorce because the whole household had been tense, but they had always been close through it all. "Anyway, I'm gonna go. I have editing and stuff to do." _And maybe she didn't want to talk anymore about Jace_.

It was clear Jocelyn knew that as well, given the small smile on her face as she nodded.

"Okay, sweetie, well, keep me updated, okay?" Jocelyn's voice was soft and motherly and Clary always felt better after talking to her.

"I will, mum. Love you," she smiled widely at her mum.

"Love you more, darling," she replied and Clary made kissing faces at the screen before reaching forward and cutting off the connection. She sighed as she looked around, making a face and then decided that she really needed to tidy her room, and she could edit later on. With another sigh, she dragged herself off her bed and started sorting through the clothes on the chair in the corner.

* * *

**_I'm actually thinking it's time for me to get something for dinner._**

Clary pursed her lips out in a pout as she read the latest text message from Jace. She was just closing up the computer lab and planning to walk home, and as far as she knew, all her roommates were going to be there, but they had probably all just had toast and noodles for dinner, _even though_ they actually had full cupboards and a fridge now, courtesy of Jace. By the time she got home, she really couldn't be bothered cooking, after uni and then work all day.

_Wish I was having real food for dinner..._

Clary pouted again as she sent off the text and tucked her keys into her laptop bag and started walking away from the doors of the lab. It had been a quiet night tonight, which was good, because she had spent most of it editing the photos that she had taken the other day when she was working at the wedding, so she had been able to get through a lot, and then she had also been able to do some work on a theory paper that was due next week for a class. She was walking out of the building when she felt her phone vibrate again. She pulled it out of her pocket and had to stop pause as a group of students walked past her, probably coming from the library, and then she looked at the message.

**_I'm in the student parking lot. Come meet me and I'll take you for real food._**

The redhead froze, stopping so quickly that her laptop bag jerked on her shoulder, and then she let out a tiny squeal that she tried to suppress it given how still and quiet things were in the middle of campus this late at night, despite the fact that there were still some students around.

_Yes_

_YES_

_IM COINGGGG_

_Shit - COMINGGGG_

_YES_

Clary changed her direction slightly, so that she was no longer heading toward the side gate where she was going before, but toward the parking lot.

Then she saw Jace's car—_one_ of his cars, she now knew that he had three cars—but this was his SUV, which is the one he most commonly drove. The Dodge Challenger that he had been driving around the first few weeks that Clary had been getting to know him had been when the SUV was getting 'detailed' because apparently it had 'scratches', even though Clary had put a massive dent in the back of her mums car nearly six years ago when she was learning to drive, and it was _still_ there.

"Jace!" Clary's voice was a little bit louder than the almost empty car park really called for, but his smile was bright and she didn't feel the least bit embarrassed about it.

"Clary," Jace had been leaning against the side of the car, waiting for her, as usual, because unlike every _other_ person in the entire world, he didn't wait _inside_ the car when he was waiting for someone, he always got out, opening the door for her, closing it behind her once she had gotten in. "I remembered you saying you had work tonight, I thought we could maybe get a late dinner," he suggested and Clary couldn't help the little bounce in her step as they reached each other and she pressed up on her toes, getting her hello kiss, firm but sweet on her mouth with his hand briefly cupping the back of her head, as always, as _she fucking loved_.

"That sounds _amazing_," Clary agreed, with a bit more energy that she was really entitled to have at seven in the evening, but she was pretty sure she was actually just over-tired, given how late she had been up the past two nights, editing because she wanted to keep up with Layla, since she was trying to get the photos all finished as soon as possible.

But then Clary stopped short, eyebrows flying upward as Jace opened the car door, chattering about some bar that he went to quite a bit with some people from work.

Because she had _rang_ Jace right after she had opened up all the packages that had just _appeared_ in her apartment, and she had text him a lot since then, but they hadn't actually seen each other.

She couldn't just _dramatically_ drop her laptop and camera bags, because there was no way in hell she could afford to replace that stuff, but instead of getting into the SUV, she put her bags on the seat and then she spun around and cut Jace off halfway through whatever he was saying by pushing his lips against his.

It was a little abrupt, yeah, okay, especially since they had been taking things almost _painfully_ slow on the physical side of things, but the way Jace started responding almost straight away seemed to show it was okay. He put one hand on her hip and the other hand to the small of her back, gathering her in against his body in the way that he had of making her feel even smaller than she usually did, and that was really saying something, given her height came in at round 5'2. But he also made her feel safe, and tingle all over, and her cheeks flame red, and when they pulled back, Jace rested his forehead against hers and didn't let her just pull away and get hurriedly into the SUV.

"What was that for?" He asked, smiling down at her, looking _genuinely_ confused, as though she shouldn't _still_ be thanking him for all the money that he had spent on her in the weekend.

Clary rolled her eyes and tutted under her breath, and thanked him again, and he acted as though it was nothing, just smiling and shrugging and saying that he liked making things easier for her, and then he was holding the passenger door open wider for her and waiting for her to get inside, so she did. She moved her things carefully onto the ground before putting on her seat belt, and then Jace was getting into the drivers seat next to her and turning on the car and the heater started going and it made her sink comfortably into the leather seats, tugging her fingers through her hair and cringing at how flat it was after everything it had been through throughout the day.

"Honestly, Jace," Clary said as they pulled out of the universities parking lot. "What you did...What you brought for me—you didn't have to." They'd already had this conversation on the phone, and by text, _multiple times_, but Clary felt the need to say it out loud when she was seeing him in person as well.

"Clary," Jace arched an eyebrow that she could just make out in the street lights as they came to a stop at a red light. "I wanted to buy you some things to make your life easier. I just wanted to help. That was it." There was_ so much more to it_, and Clary _knew _that, but she didn't know what to say, so she just shrugged.

"Thank you," she murmured, for the umpteenth time in the week.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Jace hummed out, and it was a term of endearment that Clary hadn't heard from him before, and it made her _shoulders_ feel hot, and she chewed down on her bottom lip so that she didn't break out in a massive, stupid smile as they drove to whatever bar Jace had chosen out. Jace found a park around the back, and Clary was about to slide out of the car, her fingers reaching for the handle after she had taken off her seat belt when Jace suddenly appeared at her side, opening the door and giving her a smile as he waited for her to get out.

"Is this whole relationship thing that we got going on just going to be a combination of me saying thank you and you saying it's okay?" Clary asked as she got out of the car and Jace closed it behind her.

"You don't need to saying thank you so much," Jace said softly as he slid a single strong arm around her middle and tucked her in close to his side as they walked out of the small, rather tight parking lot around to the front of the building so much.

"Then _you_ don't need to keep doing things for me," Clary pointed out, although her heart was fluttering in her chest and her stomach was squeezing tightly at the feeling of him keeping her so close, and as they approached the bar, there was just something different about the way that the men outside glanced over at them as they smoked, it just felt different from the way that men looked at her when she was with, well, _anyone_ else. It kind of felt as though they would part in the middle if that was what Jace asked, and it was a nice feeling, knowing that other people looked at him as though he was _that_ powerful as well.

"I like making your life a bit easier," Jace repeated again, shrugging a shoulder, acting as though he hadn't just gifted her_ thousands of dollars_ of equipment, and that was on top of all the groceries he had brought her, and the fact that he paid for all of their food and drinks whenever they went out.

"You don't need to do that though," Clary mumbled as they stepped into the bar, which was warmer and a bit loud, but not unpleasantly so, and there were quite a few people inside. There was a flat screen turned on behind the bar with some sports game playing, and Jace lead her through the crowd of people toward one of the empty tables and barstools, pulling one of the stools out for her to get on and then tapping his fingers down on top of the wooden table top.

"I'm just going to go get us some drinks and menus. You happy with Rosé?" Jace asked and Clary blinked at him in surprise, because she was pretty sure she had only mentioned her love of Rosé in passing once.

"Uh, yeah," Clary smiled widely as she propped her elbow onto the table top and rested her chin on her hand. "It's perfect." Jace leaned in to kiss her forehead, and then he was striding toward the bar.

It was nice to watch him walk away.

He had a nice ass.

Clary tipped her head to the side as she watched him go, and then as she straightened back up to pull out her phone and flick off a quick text in the flat group chat, letting them know she had finished work but would be home a bit later, she noticed that she definitely wasn't the only one watching Jace. It wasn't surprising, but it made her smirk to herself as she took in the two attractive women who were probably closer to Jace's age than her own, who were wearing low cut tops and big smiles as Jace looked over his shoulder and over their heads toward Clary, who wiggled her fingers in a wave.

By the time Jace got back, Clary had shrugged out of the army green jacket she was wearing, given how warm it was, and he slid her wine glass across to her and put down a craft beer before slipping into in the barstool next to her, rather than the one opposite her, which was nice.

"So," Jace took a pull from his beer, and then his eyes were almost laser-focused on Clary, a gentle smile on his pink lips. "How was your day?"

It was_ just. So. Easy._ When it came to Jace.

Stupidly easy.

He was funny and sweet, and she actually _blushed_ when some hair fell forward and he reached out to brush it back behind her ear as though it was the most natural—and painfully cliché but so, so sweet—thing in the world to do.

She told him about her classes that day, and how her editing was going, and her work, and then she asked him about his work, and Jace didn't brush it off, act as though she was too young or like she wouldn't understand, even though there were some things that she _didn't_. But she got most of it, and a lot of it was about his frustrations with how slow one of his projects was progressing forward because apparently the firm that he had was working with in New York was slowing things down a bit. His lips got tight in the corners and he didn't look happy and Clary didn't like that, so she shifted the conversation to something lighter and leaned over to rest her hand on his knee.

As much as Clary wanted to stay and drink and talk and eat, when Jace checked his watch and saw that it was after eleven o'clock, he made a regretful face and quickly finished off what was left in his bottle.

"Sorry, I should probably get you home. I need to be in the office by six," he said and Clary pouted.

"Isn't one of the perks of having your own company the fact that you get to choose your _own_ hours?" She asked, her voice coming out almost in a whine, because she was having a _good time_, and maybe she'd had three glasses of wine and so her cheeks were a bit flushed and her knees were knocking against Jace's since they were now turned to face each other completely, and their hands that weren't resting near their drinks were overlapping each others on Jace's thigh, fingers all laced together, but she just wanted this night to keep going.

Jace just looked endeared as he lifted the hand by his beer to rub his thumb gently across her cheek.

"It should be," he agreed with a smile. "I'll put that on the agenda to look into." Clary couldn't help but smile back at him, and then he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss. "Come on," he murmured when he pulled back, nose nudging hers for a few gentle moments. "I'll take you home."

**I have a few TV recommendations few guys, since we've been inside doing almost nothing else for the past few weeks. _Breeders_ is really funny in a total black comedy kind of way, although there's definitely a few things that hit a little close to home. And then there's _Car Masters: Rust to Riches_ which is this car show where they take cars and do them up into something crazy. Me just writing that sounds bland as shit, and I never watch this shows! Haha. We never watch car shows or anything, but this one is just different, the whole group is just really entertaining. There's two seasons, so yeah, just check it out to see if it's your thing!**

**My top ten songs that I would recommend this time around are;**

**1) _Smiling When I Die_ \- Sasha Sloan. 2) _Forever_ \- Fletcher. 3) _On_ \- BTS. 4) _Kissing Other People_ \- Lennon Stella. 5) _Pretend You're Missing Me_ \- Betty Who. 6) _Not In The Same Way_ \- 5 Seconds of Summer. 7) _Paper Hearts_ \- Tori Kelly. 8) _Cruel Intentions_ \- Delacey and G-Eazy. 9) _Ophelia_ \- The Lumineers. 10) _Highway To Heaven_ \- NCT 127.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed the update! And the recommendations! I hope they provided a little bit of distraction in these...Weird times we're living in. Leave a comment, let me know what you thought of the update and please recommend songs and movies and TV series and whatever! I've heard from a few people that they've looked at other peoples recommendations and really enjoyed them, so it's not just me you're being a hero for right now! Haha.**

**Much love from me to you x**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity**  
**Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	12. Chapter 12

"What do you think of this one?" Helen asked as she twirled around in front of her webcam and Clary yawned as she took in the third outfit change. If this was a first date, or a second date, she would understand the nervousness, but it was nowhere _near_ the first time that Helen was going to be seeing _Aline_ and Helen still seemed to freak out as though it was the first time.

Although...

Clary had a habit of double checking that her hair was in place and she didn't have lipstick on her teeth and her outfit wasn't too mismatched when she was meeting up with Jace, even though she generally didn't care.

"I like it," Clary replied.

"You said that about the last two," Aline pointed out, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, the last two were nice!" Clary protested, her voice coming out a little muffled given she was still laying down and the laptop was resting on her stomach, her head propped up a little awkwardly on her pillows. "I don't know—what kind of occasion are we going for here? Like, are you going to a club? To a movie? To dinner?"

"I don't _know_, that's the problem," Helen sighed and rubbed her hand over her face before moving forward and flopping down on her bed and picking up her computer. "She just said she wanted to talk to me tonight and that she'd pick me up at seven and that's _all_ I know. And it sounded kind of serious and so I'm freaking out, because I really like her, and you _know_ that I was thinking about..." Helen drew in a sharp breath and her eyes darted to the side, fingers twitching a bit. "You know I was thinking about maybe trying to drop back the dates I was going on, the people I was seeing..." Helen _had_ mentioned it in passing a few times, and Isabelle and Clary had just been waiting for the official day to come. "I was thinking about talking to Aline this weekend about how I was feeling, so maybe I'll talk to her tonight, but it just depends what she says."

"You okay?" Clary asked with a scrunch of her nose, not too sure what else she could ask and Helen just scrunched her nose back. "I think I still have some Xanex left over from some last exam season." Helen rolled her eyes. "And Jordan can always get those killer weed brownies, if you _really_ need to chill out." This time it made Helen laugh and she pursed her lips in a kiss as she leaned forward.

"I'll let you go back to sleep, I know Fridays are _your day_," Helen said as she lifted her hand to tap on the keys of her laptop. "Love you."

"Love you," Clary replied before pushing the laptop off her stomach and yawning again.

Then she went back to sleep.

* * *

It was a little after ten when Clary woke up again, and she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and brushed her teeth, wearing one of Jordan's baggy shirts and a tiny pair of sleeping shorts and a bra as she took her laptop out to the lounge and stretched out on the couch. She flipped through the Netflix and Hulu apps, but she couldn't decide on something to watch, so she flicked over to Disney+ and just chose _Phineas and Ferb_ since she had seen Jordan and Lambert watching it a few days ago and it had reminded her how much she had liked watching the show when she was younger, usually with Jonathan as well. Some of those memories were admittedly tarnished with yelling and shouting that she still remembers hearing from her parents in the kitchen behind her, and she was once again incredibly grateful that they had decided to get a divorce and her mother had found Luke.

By the time Clary looked up from editing on her laptop and actually looked back at the screen of the TV, she was surprised to see that she didn't even recognise what episode she was on, and when she looked at the time, she had been editing the wedding photos for over an hour. She was almost done, she could have them off to Layla by next week, which would be a bit earlier than her given deadline, so she hoped that would be a good reflection back on her, maybe set her up to be able to have a bit more work in the future.

For now, though, she hadn't eaten and it was after lunch time.

Clary got up, humming along to the theme song for the new episode as she flicked through the notifications in her phone, ignoring a couple of snapchats from Simon which were just recounting his tale of a pigeon that had been sitting outside the window of his lab classes that morning, and replying to Izzy when she asked in the groupchat if anyone had plans for dinner that night. She didn't mind cooking tonight, if everyone was going to be there, so she asked if anyone was going to be out and then kept looking through the fridge for something to eat _now_.

Then her phone rang.

By this point, she really only expected one person to be calling, and she actually didn't _mind_ this person calling now, even though generally she expected at least twelve hours notice to have a phone conversation.

"Jace!" She greeted him cheerfully and she could almost _hear_ his smile down the other end of the phone.

"Clary," he replied warmly. "You're at home, right?"

"Yeah, Friday, so it's my day off," Clary chattered as she pursed her lips and closed the fridge, moving over to the pantry which was starting to look a little empty, and in the back of her head, Clary knew that they would have to make a shopping list. An _actual_ shopping list. There was always stuff they _needed_ but they would just remember that when they got the store—most of the time, there had been a couple of frantic tampon runs when Simon was the one in charge of doing the shopping that week, and there had been a very upset Jordan a few times when Isabelle had accidentally gotten his wrong type of toothpaste—but Jace had gently suggested that they should make an _actual_ list, because it would make it easier to ensure that they got everything they needed.

It made _sense_, it just wasn't something Clary had done before.

"Clary?" Jace was still talking and Clary blinked.

"Shit, sorry, hey!" She laughed and Jace laughed quietly as well.

"Did you want to open the door?" He said and she blinked again.

"What?"

"Did you want to open the door?" Jace repeated and he laughed again, not sounding at all put off at the fact that her attention had strayed, which was pretty common for her, they all knew that.

"Wh—_you're here_?!" Clary squeaked, already abandoning the kitchen and practically skipping to the door. She unlocked the front door, not caring that she was only wearing a threadbare teeshirt of Jordan's and a bare of shorts that couldn't even be seen from under the hem of the shirt. Jace's eyes widened as he looked down at her, phone still pressed to his ear, but Clary just dropped her hand to her side and grinned, reaching up on her toes for her kiss.

And she got it.

Jace smiled, eyes crinkling in the corners, and he tucked his phone into his pocket before reaching up, wrapping a hand around the back of her head to firmly guide her up for a greeting kiss, and when their lips parted, his hand was still resting on the back of her head as she lowered herself back down to the flat of her feet.

"Hey, babe," she grinned up at him.

"Hey, sweetheart," he returned as he brushed his fingers gently through a few strands that were loose and tucked behind her ear, before he leaned down to press another kiss to her cheek, which made her flush pink as she turned to head back into the house. It was just _cute_. She didn't realize that things like guys _touching her hair_ and _kissing her cheek_ were _so cute_. It was just_ really nice_ and Jace sometimes just did things like that that _seemed so simple_ but made her feel simultaneously like flying and like she needed to throw up every meal she'd had for the last week.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as he closed the door behind him and then her eyes suddenly shifted to his hand, the one that hadn't held his phone and hadn't reached out and touched her. "McDonalds?"

"Yeah, sweetheart," Jace laughed as he held up the bag for her and Clary let out a groan that maybe bordered just a _smidge_ on the orgasmic side as she took the slightly greasy bag from his hand.

"Holy shit, you're actually amazing," Clary shook her head as they went into the lounge, Jace a few steps behind her as he took off his shoes and properly lined them up by the door, and then as he was following after her, he took off his jacket and hung it carefully over the back of one of their kitchen chairs—the one _without_ the peeling paint, which was good, because that would come off and get on his jacket and mess with all that perfection.

"I didn't get a drink—figured by the time I got here the ice would have melted and the fizz would be gone," Jace told her as he sat down on the couch with her, not at the other end, but not _super_ close either, a few inches of space between them, unfortunately.

"You're just brilliant, Jace," Clary sighed dramatically as she stuffed a handful of salty fries that were a little on the limp side from being in the bag for a while into her mouth, letting out another happy sigh. "Practically perfect in every way," she recited to him and Jace let out a laugh.

"Izzy used to watch that movie all the time when I used to have to babysit her in the school holidays," he grinned.

"Okay, _ew_, let's not talk about the fact you babysat your cousin who is my best friend _and _my age," Clary pointed out as she pointed a finger at Jace and wiggled it with a bit of a wince. "But _yes_, she's the reason why _Mary Poppins_ is back in my life—I had completely forgotten all about it until I moved in with her and all of a sudden, I'm watching it at least once a month, sometimes more."

"It's a great movie," Jace said and Clary nodded.

"True, true," she agreed, and then she was shoving the cheeseburger into her mouth and groaning.

It had been a while since she'd had McDonalds.

Their general go-to in the flat was pizza, and then Chinese, and then subs, just because they got more for their money that way and_ they were broke ass college students_ who couldn't just go around buying McDonalds whenever they wanted. But Jace could, and it seemed like just another reason to keep you around.

"Seriously, though," Clary said after she had swallowed her mouthful and picked up her own water bottle that was on the coffee table next to her laptop and Jace looked it over with a smile, probably wanting to comment on the stickers and her great teenage taste, but he didn't. "I swear you're flawless. Are you sure you're not a robot or something?" She stretched out her leg, partially as a joke, also because she just wanted to close the gap between them, and poked at the side of his leg with her toes, noting that she really needed to touch up the neon green nail polish there. "Sent in to set really high standards for unsuspecting college students?" She giggled as she took another bite from her cheeseburger and Jace rolled his eyes, looking playful as he picked up her foot and laid it out over his lap so that he could rub her ankle, but there was a seriousness in his eyes that she wished wasn't there.

"I'm not _flawless_, Clary," he told her, laughing slightly.

"You _sure_?" She pressed, a little playfully, but also because she was interested in his response. He was quiet for a moment, one of his thumbs pressing into the side of her foot in a way that made her shoulders slump. "Dunno, you seem pretty perfect to me."

"Literally the first morning we met was a Sunday, and I was going to work," Jace said with a raised eyebrow. Clary paused, swallowing her mouthful of cheeseburger and tilting her head to the side. "And the first date we went on, I couldn't even properly pick you up, you had to meet me at work." Clary couldn't help the way her lips were tipping upward in the corners, because it was nice to hear that Jace considered the tiny little coffee shop outing their first date. "Last night I had to cut things short because I had to be up early for work," he added and he trailed off a little and Clary's eyebrows began pulling together as she realized he sounded serious.

And kind of sad.

And as much as she wanted to _inhale_ the rest of her cheeseburger and the fries and then the Big Mac that Jace had brought her—maybe he'd planned on having it as well, but the bag was safely on the other side of her body, away from him, and she was planning on devouring both burgers—she put the cheeseburger down on the table, in it's wrapping, and half turned to Jace, eyebrows pulled together.

"Jace? Um, it's okay," she didn't really know what to say, it didn't really feel like her place, but Jace gave her a tight smile.

"My dad worked a lot when I was growing up, he was never around for me and my mum, and I told myself that I wasn't going to be like that, you know?" Jace wrinkled his nose and rubbed a hand over her face and Clary wondered if this was going to be A Really Grown Up Conversation. "And now..." he drifted off and Clary's fingers twitched at her side before she pulled her knees up, crawling forward a little on the couch so that she was crouched beside him, and resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Jace...You have your company, of course you're busy," she said quietly. "But, like—you're here now, right? It's the middle of the day and you're here with me, not at work?" He looked up at her and she gave him a smile and he smiled back.

"You're right," Jace said, and his smile wasn't as tight in the corners and his eyes seemed a little lighter.

"Don't worry," Clary said, giggling a little as she moved herself around, making herself comfortable against Jace's side as she reached for her cheeseburger again and then for the remote with the other hand, turning up the TV. "I'll tell you if you're working too hard and not paying attention to me." Jace didn't say anything, but he put an arm around her, holding her loose enough that she could eat comfortably but tight enough that he was making it clear that he didn't want her to go anywhere. They watched TV as she ate, and afterwards she dragged her laptop back onto her knees so that she could keep editing, Jace running his fingers up and down her arm absently every now and then pressing kisses to the back of her head every now and then.

It was nice.

They'd hung out before, but usually there was a purpose, or they were out somewhere, it hadn't really been...Just _chilling_ before.

Jace was mainly quiet, typing away on his phone a few times when it beeped with a text or an email, watching the cartoons or commenting on the photo that Clary was editing, not talking loudly, just whispering something softly in her ear, and it was nice, made her stomach feel warm and her body feel kind of loose and soft. After an hour or so of editing, she pushed her laptop away and curled into Jace, turning her body around so that she could nuzzle her face into the light blue material of the button down he was wearing. He'd taken off his jacket and his shoes when he'd arrived, but he was still in his proper suit pants, all nice and tailored with boring socks and a leather belt that was probably _Armani_ or something and the button down that stretched over his chest and biceps in just the right way, and the black tie with navy accents loosened just a little at the neck.

He was...Really attractive.

_So attractive_.

It was stupid, really.

"Right..." Clary muttered under her breath and Jace glanced over at her from where _Phineas and Ferb_ and their friends were running around on screen. "Can we make out now?" She asked with a tilt of her head and Jace couldn't help but let out a laugh, fond and sweet, and then he was lifting her up, easily with basically just one arm, so that she was on his lap, and it was the closest they'd ever been as her legs parted over his lap and she felt twinges run through her body, eyes widening slightly. Jace was watching her face carefully as his hands settled on her hips, almost keeping them there _respectfully_, which was honestly the last thing she wanted, she really just wanted them _up_ her shirt or _down_ her pants or _in_ her underwear or—

"This okay?" Jace asked softly as one hand slid up her back, making her arch naturally, bringing her in even closer to him, a few inches away from his face, above him for once because of her perch on his lap, and the other hand moved as well, to rest against the back of her head.

"...Hm?" Clary hummed absently, eyes already beginning to close at the promise of his lips so close. Maybe it also had something to do with the way his fingers were pressing into the soft spot behind her ear as well. Maybe. She just really liked this habit that he had, of cupping the back of her head and guiding her forward, downward, upward, whatever—_toward_ him, that was all that mattered—it was never forceful, just...Nice, guiding, supportive, with a hint of something else. Sometimes his hand slid down a little further, so it was cupping more the back of her neck, with his thumb hooked behind her ear, and he would angle her head to the side and just slip his tongue inside in this way that made her insides turn to molten lava.

"This okay, baby?" Jace's voice was suddenly closer, deeper, hotter, _right beside her ear_, making her shake and squeeze her nails into his shoulders.

He hadn't called her _baby_ before.

That was new.

That was _completely_ new.

She was _wet_, just like that.

"Yeah," it almost came out like a whine, Clary feeling as though she was going to just_ dissolve into a fucking pile of goop_ if he didn't kiss her_ right now_.

And then he did, and she honestly felt light headed.

Jace wasn't always gentle when he kissed her, and soft, sometimes he pressed a bit firmer and added some tongue and it was _amazing_, but there was _build up._ Clary quite liked the change in pace, the fact that rather than someone just trying to shove their tongue down past her tonsils, they actually wanted to play with her first, taste her, tease her. But this time it felt a bit different, the pace wasn't _rushed_ but the instant their lips touched, the kiss was deeper and more intense, and her eyes rolled back as his arm rubbed back down her spine before wrapping around her waist and pulling her in close, as tight as he could as he leaned back into their cheap couch. His other hand was still holding the back of her head, keeping her mouth against his, and his tongue slid along the seam of her lips, tracing her upper lip.

"J-_Jace_," Clary sighed as she felt his hands pulling at her shirt, not enough to stretch the material, just enough to for her to feel the tug, and it made her nipples ache against the material of the bra she was wearing.

"Yeah, baby?" Jace's voice sounded a little rough as he spoke, lips moving against Clary's given he refused to pull back more than a few millimetres. "You okay?" Clary blinked and she almost wanted to let out a hysterical laugh at the question, but she didn't want to pull away, rolling her hips just a little bit and feeling triumphant when she heard a quiet grunt from Jace at the movement. The fingers in her hair twisted a little, pulling at the strands just enough to make prickles spread across her scalp in the most delicious way, and she let out a whimper, seeking out his lips blinding, her eyes closed again. "You're so pretty, Clary," Jace kissed her on the mouth once, wet and hot but only brief, then he was trailing softer, more close mouthed kisses over her chin and jawline and down her neck, and Clary's mouth fell open as his nose brushed against her collarbone. "And you sound _so sweet_," he added hoarsely, and Clary hadn't even realized that she was making any noise, letting out gasps of pleasure and feeling her cheeks flush red-hot as she realized just how loud she was being.

"Fuck," Clary swallowed hard and she blinked up at the ceiling, her head tipped all the way back with her throat exposed, and she was about to ask Jace if maybe he wanted to move from the couch—honestly, he looked out of place on the couch in the first place, even if she liked how comfortable he looked there, he really didn't seem like the kind of guy who was going to fuck her on a couch that they had bartered for off some older students who had moved out down the hall—and go to her bedroom, when there was the sound of laughter just outside the front door and then a key in a lock. "_Fuck_!" Clary repeated, this time for a whole other reason.

A moment later, Simon and Jordan were stepping through the front door, laughing and talking, Simon carrying a slushie cup and Jordan with a kebab in his hand. Jace turned his head to look back at them awkwardly over the back of the couch, his hands moving quickly, so that they were stroking down Clary's side in a _very_ PG kind of way, almost in calming motions, which made her just want to _cry_.

"Oh, shit," Jordan spotted them on the couch, Clary on Jace's lap, _glaring at them_, and Jace getting his breathing under control and looking a lot calmer than Clary did. A shit-eating grin spread across Jordan's face as he waved his kebab over at them. "Are we interrupting something here?"

"_Yes_!" Clary cried out. "_Clearly_!" Jace let out a huff of laughter against her chest before giving her hips a gentle squeeze.

"I should probably be going anyway," Jace told her quietly, moving her onto the couch next to him and then pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and laying it over her lap in a surprisingly sweet motion. "I was really only meant to be dropping off some lunch, Maia's been blowing up my phone for the past half hour." He smile ruefully and then a moment later, he held up his phone so that Clary could see Maia's name, which was showing on the screen as calling _right now_. Clary had met Maia Roberts twice now, Jace's executive assistant and right hand lady, and she seemed like the kind of person who had perfected death glares for when Jace ignored her phone calls.

"I hope Maia doesn't hurt you too much for being late," Clary said, trying not to sound too forlorn as she watched Jace get up, tightening her fingers in the blanket over her lap.

"I've dealt with an angry Maia before, I'll do it again," Jace grinned as he leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the lips before he was straightening up. She didn't miss the way he tugged at his pants and angled his hips in a certain way, undoubtedly trying to hide a certain _problem_ that he had, which made Clary smirk slightly. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Bye, Jace—thanks for the McDonalds," she added.

"Of course, sweetheart," he waved at her, and then at Simon and Jordan before he was leaving, and Clary picked up one of the couch cushions and threw it with all her force toward her two giggling flatmates.

**Hey, guys. Hope you enjoyed the update. Be kind and well.**


	13. Chapter 13

**This chapter is dedicated to the lovely MidnightBean x**

Jace definitely become something of a regular fixture over the next month, coming around for dinner at least once a week and always bringing something different for the flatmates to eat—Jordan had officially announced that he was Clary's favourite _booty call_, and could he please stay around? Clary fucking _wished_ Jace was at least fulfilling the most basic of requirements for a booty call, but he was doing everything _but_, taking her out on dates and sometimes buying her pretty things that she insisted were way too much but he never listened to, but the pair of them hardly ever alone anywhere _private_.

She hadn't been expecting him tonight, though.

"_Jace_?" Clary all but squawked as she saw the guy that she had been _internally_ referring to as her kinda-boyfriend look through the kitchen door and skim his eyes around, landing on her with a smile.

"Clary," Jace was about to step forward when two drunk girls stumbled through the door and cut off his path, and he stepped back again, and Clary quickly crossed the kitchen to him.

"Hey!" She cried out. "What are you doing here?!"

"Do you not _want_ me here?" Jace asked, and there was a teasing tone to his voice that Clary was getting used to, although it still caused a flurry of butterflies in her stomach.

"I always want you here," Clary said with a grin, throwing her arms around Jace's shoulders and tugging him in close, maybe using him to balance a little bit because she'd had a few shots with Isabelle earlier and she hadn't eaten since lunch, so she was feeling just a smidge shaky.

"That's good to know," Jace grinned, and he banded an arm around her waist to give her a hug before his other hand cupped the back of her head, bringing her in for a firm kiss.

"I just didn't know you were coming tonight—didn't think it was your scene," she said with a shrug as she looked around, and it really wasn't. It was barely _Alec's_ scene, he only put up with it because of Magnus. She and Isabelle were definitely the youngest ones there, everyone else were friends of Magnus and Alec's, some of them people that they had gone to university with, some of them who they worked with, but pretty much _everyone_ was younger than Jace, and he didn't really drink all that much.

"It's not, really," Jace replied, hand still resting on the back of her neck, thumb brushing down the curve in a way that tingled. "But I finished work early, and your phone was going straight to voice mail, but I remembered you saying something about coming here so I text Alec." Clary pouted as she ducked her head looked down at her phone and saw that it was dead.

"Me and Izzy were taking heaps of selfies with filters before," Clary explained with a wrinkle of her nose. "Must have drained the battery." Jace just smiled back at her, and she reached up to kiss him on the mouth again, _because she could_, before looking around. "Did you want a drink?" Jace glanced around, his eyes probably skimming over the half-empty red solo cups that were scattered on the bench behind her.

"I don't really think they have my preference," he grinned and Clary shrugged and laughed.

"Yeah, but _after_ you've done three super cheap tequila shots, everything starts tasting the same," she said and Jace's smile widened, his eyes dancing as he looked around, and he was about to say something when there was a scream from the doorway.

"Jace!" Isabelle shouted out, and Jace turned around to see his cousin, his arm falling so that it was draped over Clary's shoulders, keeping her loosely against his side. "Oh my _god_, of _course_ you're here, coz _Clary's_ here!" Isabelle was more drunk than Clary, and Clary just laughed as her best friend _nearly_ tripped over and ended up face first on the ground, _but_ she caught herself like a pro, gripping the kitchen bench and steadying herself. Jace jerked forward a little, out of protective instinct, and Clary giggled under her breath, because Isabelle wore six inch heels when she went out _as a rule_, which included when she got drunk, and the girl knew how to stay on her feet, she'd only seen her go ass-over-tits two or three times, which was impressive, with the amount of times that they had been drunk together.

"Hey, Izzy," Jace gave her a hug and a kiss.

"Did you want a drink? Did you want something to eat?" Isabelle pursed her lips together and then wiggled her eyebrows. "Did you want something to smoke?" There was a grin on her face that Clary didn't quite understand, because yes, she was always down to have something to smoke, but that didn't mean Jace was, until she tipped her head back and was surprised to see Jace nodding.

"Someone here selling? I didn't bring anything with me," Jace said easily and Clary's eyes widened at the casual comment, suddenly feeling stupidly tingly in between her legs at the _idea of Jace smoking weed_. What the _fuck even was her life_? She was_ that sexually deprived_ that the idea of Jace _smoking_ was getting her turned on?

"This is one of Magnus' parties, so there will be at least four people selling," Isabelle grinned and then stuck out her hand. "Pay up and I'll get you some joints." It was kind of funny, because these were literal interactions that _Clary_ had, although admittedly, Jace just pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and slipped out some notes easily rather than having to count through the change like Clary always had to. Isabelle didn't look as surprised as she grinned and snatched the notes out of Jace's hand, flicking her fingers in a wave before she disappeared and Jace looked down at her.

"You alright, sweetheart?" He asked, arching an eyebrow and Clary just narrowed her eyes.

"I didn't know you smoked," she blurted out and Jace blinked.

"Is that..._Okay_?" Jace looked a little hesitant and Clary's eyes widened.

"Oh shit, yeah, of course, _fuck_," she let out a laugh and nudged him in the side with her elbow. "You can do whatever the fuck you want, you're an adult, I just didn't know." Jace's eyebrow raised slightly.

"I know I _can_, I just wanted to make sure you were _okay_ with that, I don't want to do something in front of you that makes you uncomfortable," Jace explained, giving the arm around her shoulders a squeeze. Clary stared up at him for a beat and then reached up and gave him another kiss.

"As long as you share, I'm totally okay with it," Clary grinned and Jace smiled back at her. She would have been completely fine to just shack up in the kitchen, maybe climb up onto a bench and get Jace to stand between her legs and get him to touch her thighs and possibly kiss her neck a little, but then a few people came in and shot them knowing grins and she rolled her eyes. "Wanna go find Alec and Mags?" Clary asked and Jace nodded, arm moving so that he could link his fingers together with hers, gripping them firmly in between his as he nodded toward the kitchen door, letting her take the lead. The apartment was full, but it was a lot bigger than the one Clary lived in, even though there were only _two_ people living here, rather than four, but they were two, like, fully functioning adults with jobs rather than four students, so _there_ was the main difference, so there was still room to breathe, even with a party happening. "Mags!" Clary called out when she saw a shock of blue hair and the head turned.

"Biscuit!" Magnus squawked, and from the way his pupils were blown, it was clear that he was on something, and Clary giggled as Magnus ditched whoever it was he had been talking to, to come over and throw his arms around Clary, giving her a sloppy kiss half on the mouth before looking up at Jace. "And of course, Jace keeping my darling Clary company. She's not corrupting you too much, is she, Jace?" Magnus reached forward to give Jace a sloppy kiss of his own, almost completely on the mouth, just like Clary's, because he was drunk and high, and Magnus was tactile as all hell _anyway_, and Clary giggled at the way Jace just grinned and shook his head in amusement in response as Magnus pulled back.

"I'll have you know I'm a _great_ fucking influence, thank you very much," Clary snapped playfully and Magnus snorted as Isabelle suddenly appeared again, holding up two joints in her hand.

"Merry Christmas!" She announced as she shoved them at Jace and Magnus looked at them and then at Clary and then at Jace.

"Hey, this wasn't me," Clary widened her eyes and waved her hands in front of her. "He became a casual drug user on his own, no influence from me." Jace laughed next to her and Magnus grinned before he was pulling out a lighter from the back pocket of his impossibly tight leather pants and held it up in front of them.

"Have fun, kiddies," he said as he tossed the lighter to Jace and then disappeared, the gown thing he was wearing over top of his singlet and pants shimmering and glittering behind him and Clary watched him go with a shake of her head before looking up at Jace.

"There's one quiet place here," she told him and Jace nodded with a smile. She tugged on his hand, pulling him back through the apartment, and on their way out, she snagged a bottle that was still pretty full with vodka from one of the side tables. Alec was coming out of the bathroom, making a face at two people who were making out against the door and who nearly stumbled inside when he opened the door, and he shouted out a greeting to Jace, and Jace waved back before Clary was pulling him through the front door. It was instantly quieter when they got into the hallway, but Clary didn't stop, leading Jace to the end of the hall and toward the stairs that were labelled 'Fire Exit'.

"Aren't these usually alarmed?" Jace asked with a half smile.

"Maybe in buildings where rent costs two arms and a leg, this place only costs one arm and a leg," Clary shot back as she opened the door and no alarm went off, just as Clary had expected. She shot a triumphant look back at Jace, who just shook his head and grinned, following after her. They were only two floors from the roof, which meant that they had to take four flights of stairs, and when Clary pushed open the top door, she made sure to grab the little wedge of wood that Alec and Magnus always made sure to leave up here—and probably other people, since this was a getaway spot for quite a few in the building—and she stuck it under the door so that it wouldn't shut behind them. Luckily, there was no one out here tonight, and Clary started twisting off the lid of the vodka bottle. "Welcome," she sung out, holding out her arms to either side of her.

"Nice," Jace said with a nod and then pulled one of the joints out of his pocket, and the neon pink lighter that Magnus had given him. "Shotgun?" He asked with a tilt of his head and a purse of his pink lips and Clary blinked before taking a _very_ generous sip of the vodka and nodded her head.

"Let's do it."

She had shotgunned before.

She had shotgunned on _many_ occasions, including with guys and a girl that she had slept with, but this was different. _Why was literally _everything _different with Jace_, Clary wondered idly as Jace pulled back and the world went hazy around her as the remaining smoke curled around his lips and she held the rest of it in her throat, from where he had passed it between their mouths. His lips felt softer, they looked pinker, and when she had opened her eyes again, it literally felt as though they were suspended somewhere above the city on a cloud that was made up of the smokey wisps that were really puffs of smoke.

"You okay, pretty girl?" Jace gave her a lazy smile as he leaned back against the concrete wall behind him, and _those words_—they _did_ things to her. Clary pouted a little before bringing the vodka bottle back to her lips, wincing at the slight burn that was nothing compared to the first sip that she had taken, she had long ago gotten used to drinking straight vodka directly from the bottle—although usually, it was cheaper vodka.

"More," Clary said by way of reply, because she definitely had something that she had to say, but she needed a little more herbal courage before she said it. They had settled down on some old cushions that had been tossed around. There was an old couch with water proof cushions as well, but that was on the far side of the roof, and they had decided to sit near the door. Clary didn't care about the old cushions, but it wasn't like her jeans cost thousands of dollars, but Jace hadn't thought twice before settling down next to her and lighting up the first joint.

"Come here," Jace murmured, voice a little strained from holding his breath as well, and Clary leaned in, unable to stop her eyes from closing which wasn't something she always did, but when Jace's lips pressed to hers briefly, parting them so that he could blow the smoke into her mouth. He didn't say anything, didn't ask her again if she was okay, just kept smoking and sharing with her until they were at the bottom of the joint, and then he stubbed it out on the concrete next to them and put it the rusted beans tin that someone had brought up to be used as an ashtray.

"We're gonna fuck, right?" Clary asked with a tilt of her head as she exhaled the final breath of smoke from the joint, and whatever Jace had been expecting when he had asked her if she was okay, it clearly hadn't been that, because he nearly choked on his breath and Clary couldn't help her giggles.

It was kind of nice seeing Jace off balance, and the tinge of red to his eyes made her feel like they were on more balanced ground as well.

"Do you...Want to?" Jace asked slowly, squinting a little and Clary grunted in exasperation.

"_So_. _Much_," she replied bluntly and Jace let out a loud laugh before he reached out a hand to rest on her knee, giving it a squeeze and leaving it there as he leaned back against the wall.

"Okay," Jace nodded with a small smile, eyes drifting shut. "Good to know." Clary stared at him in disbelief, and at the silence, he opened his eyes again. "What?"

"That's _it_?!" She cried out.

"What else were you expecting?" Jace laughed a little and Clary was trying to pout, but Jace looked so loose and happy and kind of younger, with the buttons of his shirt undone and his cheeks flushed and slumped down a bit and she really just wanted to climb on his lap and beg him to fuck her. "Our first time isn't going to be on a roof while we're stoned and drinking cheap vodka." Clary's eyes narrowed as she looked down at the drink, tipping the bottle back to look at the label.

"This isn't _cheap_ vodka!" She protested. Jace arched an eyebrow.

"How much do you think it cost?" He asked.

"I don't know, like..." Clary pursed her lips, and she hesitated, because she _knew_ it wasn't a super expensive bottle of vodka, it was just—usually the bottle of vodka that her and Isabelle would buy would be the nine dollar stuff. Tasted just a little like paint stripper, but it did the job. She snorted. "Forty dollars?" Jace laughed as well and Clary couldn't stop her grin as she took another drink from the bottle and then held it out to him. Jace took it and had a sip as well, although he winced as he handed it back for her to twist the lid on.

"So. A cheap bottle of vodka then," he clarified and Clary rolled her eyes playfully.

"_Fine_," she agreed. "Prude," she added with a jab of her finger into his thigh. "So when we fuck it's gonna be with _expensive_ vodka and in a bed?" She tilted her head to the side and Jace stared at her for a minute before groaning and rubbing a hand over his face, hiding it temporarily before blinking over at her.

"_Stop_," Jace groaned and Clary paused as he looked up at her. "It's way too hard to think about things like that while you're looking as gorgeous as you do." Clary blinked and looked down at what she was wearing—ripped jeans and a singlet with no bra, the cooler, night wind making her nipples hard so that it was _obvious_ she had no bra on as they pressed against the material, and a bomber jacket with jeweled shoulders that she was actually pretty sure was Magnus' originally. But before she could think of using his words to his advantage, he was already moving on. "Okay," Jace pushed off the wall and then reached out for her, taking the vodka bottle from her and putting it on the concrete with a soft _clink_, his big hands encompassing hers. "I actually wanted to ask you a question."

"No, I'm not a virgin, please don't feel the need to lay down flower petals and light candles when you _finally_ have sex with me," Clary instantly stated. "And yes, we have to use condoms, at least to start with." Jace just stared at her for a moment, his hands going still around hers before he made a face.

"Of course we're using condoms, what the fuck?" He looked almost confused.

"Well, ya know," Clary shrugged a shoulder and made a face. "There's always the whole thing..." if Jace wasn't holding her hand so tightly she would wave it awkwardly to the side, because Jace looked genuinely confused by the statement. "Like, the guy is like, are you on birth control, and the chick is like, yeah, but that's not completely guaranteed plus I don't know if you're clean, and the guy is like, oh, but I can't feel anything with the condom on, let's just go without it, and then the chick is like, _no_, I might get knocked up or a fucking STD, and the guy is like, oh, come on, _babe_, I'll just pull out, but then he _doesn't_—" Clary cut herself off at the alarmed look on Jace's face, but maybe that was also because of the voices that she was putting on, something incredibly high pitched for her _chick_ voice and then something so low pitched she could actually feel her throat vibrating for her _guy_ voice.

"Fuck," Jace whistled out with a shake of his head. "Yeah, okay, I remember being a bit of an asshole when I was in college but...Yeah, we use condoms until we talk about it again. Birth control is both of our responsibility." He said it so casually that it was just _dumb_ that Clary's pussy fluttered at the words.

She really was just damn horny.

"So. You said you had something to ask me?" Clary changed the subject back, _hoping_ that it would get them closer to the subject of fucking for the first time. He might have standards and not want to fuck on the rooftop for the first time, but she could totally ride his hand or something and that should be okay?

"I have to go to Miami next weekend for a work conference and an interview," Jace began, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand. "It's only a couple of hours over two days, I only really need to go for a night, but I was thinking—I was thinking that maybe we could fly out on Thursday, after you finish work, spend the weekend there, come back Sunday afternoon?" Clary just blinked at him. "I'll cover your flight, you don't have to worry about that, and accommodation is covered by the company."

"I..." Clary's eyebrows pulled together slightly. "I—are we going to fuck in Miami?" Was all that came out, because one second ago, they'd been talking about condoms and sex, and now he was asking her if she wanted to go to Miami for a long weekend, and literally the only time she'd been to Miami was when she was eight and her mum and dad had argued the whole time and her and Jonathan had only got to go to the beach once.

"You really have sex on the brain, don't you?" Jace just looked amused as he let go of her hands with one of his, reaching up to gently brush her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"Well, have you _seen_ you?" Clary almost _whined_, and Jace's smile was almost predatory, their faces so close that she could feel his breath against her nose before he pulled back, squeezing her hand once more.

"We'll see," he said as he let go of her hand completely, reaching for the second joint. "If you're good." Clary's body stilled at the words and her eyes darted to his, wide and pupils suddenly blown, and Jace winked at her before he was lighting up the end of second joint.

Life really wasn't fair.

**Let me know what you think x**

**Twitter: CalamitySerene  
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	14. Chapter 14

**Okay. This is not edited. But...I wanted to give you something more than nothing? I'll be back soon to edit it :)**

**12/08/2020 - Edit-ish :)**

Clary had traveled before, but it had never been like this, and this was just a _weekend business trip_.

Jace had asked her a few days before they had left if she had bags to pack all of her things in, which she said she'd be fine with, she had a canvas bag and she'd borrow a proper luggage bag from Isabelle, but the next day, a package was dropped off, and when Clary got home from work, even _Jordan_ was aware that the rolling luggage bag that was laid out on the kitchen was _Louis Vuitton_ and one hundred percent out of all of their budgets. It had been late on Wednesday because she had picked up an extra shift at work so that she would be able to have some more money when she got paid Friday, _when she would be in Miami with Jace_.

She hadn't even known how to process the luggage, especially since that was on top of all the camera equipment he had brought her _and_ the Cartier sunglasses that she still hadn't given back in her bedroom.

"That's real, right?" Clary mumbled as she stared at the monogrammed canvas, the fawn coloured overlapping LV's.

"It cost nearly _five thousand dollars_," Simon sounded as though he was choking on his words behind her. "We looked it up online before you got here...After we took it out of the box." Clary just blinked and then shook her head.

"I'm going to bed. If any of you guys touch that bag or spill anything on it, I'll cut up every single pair of your socks," she said as she walked past them, tugging her phone out of her pocket as she walked into her room and closed the door. It had been a long week and technically she was only halfway through, but she _just had to make it_ _through_ to tomorrow night, then she was going to be getting on a plane with Jace. She already had clothes all thrown together, borrowed from Isabelle and Helen as well, and she may have gone a little crazy on the lube and condoms as well, even though she _knew_ that Jace was actually adult enough to bring his own, unlike some of the other guys she'd been with, but she wanted to be _prepared_.

She didn't think she'd be able to easily go to sleep, but after getting her goodnight text from Jace—which only substituted her goodnight call if he was still at the office—she fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Flying first class was just _slightly_ different from flying coach.

Jace looked completely amused at all of Clary's comments, hand either tightly clasped around hers, or his arm wrapped around her waist as they moved through the airport and checked in their luggage. The flight was one of the smoothest Clary had ever been on, and Jace was on his iPad the whole time doing work stuff, so Clary stuck her earbuds in and listened to some old Ellie Goulding. It was late when they got to Miami, but Jace had a car waiting for them—a _driver_ waiting for them, like someone from the fucking movies with his name printed out on a piece of paper as he waited in the arrival lounge. Clary snorted when she spotted him and demanded that she get to keep the piece of paper as her first souvenir of the trip.

Miami was three hours ahead of them anyway, and so by the time they had touched down, even with the excitement of the trip, given Clary had been in classes and then had work, and so sitting in the comfortable seats in the back of the town car with her head resting against the comfortable head rest, her eyes were heavy and she drifted off easily. Jace woke up her up when they got to their destination, and she looked out the window blearily, expecting to see some fancy-schmancy hotel that was going to take her completely by surprise, but instead, it looked like a house, although she had to squint, and then yawned so wide that her eyes squinted shut.

"Come on," Jace said quietly, and there was a fond expression on his face as he reached a hand back into the car toward her. "We've already unpacked everything from the boot." Clary's eyebrows lifted in surprise, realizing she must have been deeper asleep than she had thought, and then taking Jace's hand and letting him help her out of the car. She blinked up at their...Accommodation.

"I think I'm gonna have to process all this shit in the morning," Clary stated, voice sounding thick with sleep and still taken aback. "Because even this was more than I expected."

"Yeah, baby," Jace sounded amused as he leaned in to kiss her temple. "Let's get inside and get to bed."

And Clary had thought about this.

_A lot_.

They were going to be sleeping together, _fucking finally_, although tonight at least it was definitely only going to be_ sleeping together_, no funny business because Clary was pretty much asleep on her feet and even Jace looked tired, and she knew that he usually operated on pretty much no sleep.

They weren't in a hotel, they were at a resort, or _something_, Clary wasn't entirely sure, and honestly, she didn't have the brain power to process the fact that Jace had gotten them their own house or whatever as he opened the front door and she stepped in. He flicked on the light and Clary stopped short as the harsh lights blinded her, letting out a cry as she quickly covered her eyes and Jace made an apologetic sound as she adjusted to the change in brightness. Then she took in the room.

"Yeah. Okay. So," Clary shook her head, because her_ entire flat_ could fit into this villa thing that Jace had gotten them for just a long weekend. For a fucking _business_ trip. "Like I said, I'm gonna process all this shit in the morning." She couldn't help but glance around, despite what she said, and there was a pool. There was a pool, that looked like maybe it was private, because even though there weren't lights turned on outside, the lights inside shining through the glass made it look like it was fenced off, just for them.

"Did you want a shower before bed?" Jace asked gently, picking up his bag and one of hers in each of his hands before straightening up.

"Do I smell?" Clary threw a narrow-eyed look over her shoulder, but her lips were curved upward playfully despite how tired she clearly was, and Jace just grinned back, nodding past her to a darkened doorway.

"No, just thought you might want to after the flight. Come on, I think the bedrooms through here," Jace said, stepping around her and leading the way, and Clary picked up her second bag, the canvas one, _not_ the Louis Vuitton one since Jace was carrying that one, before she followed after him. He turned on the light in the other room and then smiled. "Yup, so then...Ensuite is through there," Jace nodded at a door on the other side of the bed as he put down their bags. "And that door on the other side of the main living space must be for the washing room and stuff."

"This is intense," Clary muttered as she glanced to side and saw that there were double glass doors that opened out from their room to the private, gated area by the pool, where it looked like there was an outside eating area as well, although it was hard to make out. She didn't see Jace looking over at her hesitantly as she kneeled beside one of her bags and began to pull out a pair of sleeping shorts and a singlet. When she looked up, Jace was still looking at her, and he tipped his head to the side.

"Good intense? Or bad intense?" He asked, and he sounded a little nervous, which was just way too sad for her to deal with when she was in a _villa_ with the _prettiest guy alive_. Clary got up, her pyjamas tucked under her arm, and she reached up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"_Good_ intense, Jace," she grinned. "I'm just gonna get changed before I collapse, yeah? I'll take the bathroom." They weren't going to fuck tonight, and she was wearing cute underwear, but nothing sexy, and she had to pee and brush her teeth, so she figured she'd take care of all of it in the bathroom and get changed at once. She'd woken up a bit, with the lights turning on and looking around the villa, but as she stripped out of her clothes and washed her face, her eyelids drooped closed again and just how tired she was seeped into her bones. She sighed as she went to the toilet and changed out of her clothes, feeling even more tired as she felt the comfortable clothes brush against her skin, the waistband a lot looser than the jeans she was wearing before and she let out a contented hum. After washing her hand and kicking her clothes that she had been wearing before toward the corner of the bathroom and headed back out.

Jace had no shirt on.

That was...Preferable.

To everything.

She suddenly felt _incredibly_ awake again.

"I'll just—" Jace turned around, looking up from his phone at Clary as she came back into the room and he must have seen something in her face. His lips twitched before he glanced back down at his phone before tossing it on the bed and moving around, toward the bathroom. "I'll just use the bathroom, feel free to switch off the light if you're ready to get into bed." His fingers brushed against her hip as he passed by, casually, as though them being in a situation where they were about to get into a bed and sleep together, Jace without his shirt, Clary without her bra, hopefully in a spooning position, maybe with a little bit of morning action going on if Jace's thoughts are heading in the same direction as hers, all very domestic and sweet and a touch sexy... "Clary?"

"Hm?" Clary raised an eyebrow as she blinked and lifted her chin to meet Jace's eyes, and saw that he was smiling slightly, looking amused. She stuck out her tongue, feeling her cheeks heat a little in embarrassment because, yeah, okay, he definitely knew where her head was at, she wasn't _trying_ to keep her ogling under control right now, she should maybe try be just be a smidge more shameless, but she didn't really care.

"You good?" Jace asked, and he was still smiling but he wasn't moving away, toward the bathroom, he had taken a step closer and she could feel the body heat coming off his bare torso. Clary blinked up at him, and her stomach squeezed, and her nipples tightened under the thin material of her shirt, and then...She yawned. Directly in Jace's face. When her mouth closed and her eyes opened properly again, Jace's smile was a lot softer and he was pulling away from her. "Turn off the light and get into bed—I'll be out soon." Clary just nodded, because nothing was going to happen tonight, but she got to sleep next to a shirtless Jace, and that was something that she could treasure for-fucking-ever, and she turned to one of her bags to dig through for her phone charger. When she found it, she plugged it in on one side of the bed—she didn't really have a side, whenever she shared a bed, she was always told that she tended to just _sprawl_, and she'd already warned Jace of that—and turned on the light before lifting the bed covers and getting in.

The sheets were heavenly, ninety-thousand thread count or whatever it was that super rich people who just randomly decided they would stay in Miami villas for business trips expected, and even though Clary had planned to wait for Jace, she felt sleep taking over her quickly.

Although...She was vaguely aware of the mattress dipping beside her, and arms gathering her up close, but all she could do was sleepily hum and tip her head to the side as Jace pressed a kiss to her jawline once he joined her.

* * *

There was an alarm.

And _not_ a nice alarm.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

It wasn't Jimin's pretty voice _or_ Backstreet Boys, which Simon refused to change, it was a dumb, generic alarm that was set on high and Clary woke up glaring at her pillow because her eyes felt sticky and kind of glued together, and there was a dull headache that told her she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night. But then she slowly remembered where she was as she adjusted to the unfamiliar surroundings, and she became very aware of the warm body pressed against her back.

_Jace_.

The headache was still there, but she could power through this.

Clary tilted her hips back a little, toward where she assumed Jace's would be, but then he was pulling back and the alarm was stopping and Clary huffed slightly under her breath, because—_thank fuck_—but also because that meant Jace was no longer curved around her with his beautiful, half-naked body. Then he rolled back, and his hand reached out to gently touch her hip, in a very safe, non-invasive way, and she _really_ wished he'd at least slipped under the hem of her shirt, but she'd take whatever she could right now, and at least she got to be lying in a bed with him.

"Clary? Baby? You awake?"

Right.

Okay.

So.

_His voice_.

His voice sounded even better first thing in the morning.

Fucks sakes.

It sounded all husky and deep, and she wondered if it would sound like that when his cock was buried down her throat. She was pretty good at giving head, definitely better at giving it to guys than to girls, and she really hoped that his voice got all rumbly like it was now when he was fucking her face, maybe even pulling her hair? They hadn't really discussed sexual preferences—but she knew they'd be compatible.

"Y-yeah," Clary cleared her throat and rubbed a hand over her face, groaning a bit because talking reminded her of the headache she had, and she winced.

"I need to get up, I have to get to my conference," Jace continued, and he was _so close_ behind her, hand still warm and heavy on her hip, his breath against her bare shoulder. "But I want you to sleep in, stay here, order room service for breakfast when you're ready to get up, okay?" That sounded fucking _amazing_, and Clary felt her eyes beginning to shut again already, her headache receding just at the knowledge that she didn't have to get up and that she could go back to sleep. "Room service is all charged to the room, you don't have to worry about it. I'll leave one of my credit cards on the bench and you can go to the beach or shopping—whatever you want until I get back tonight, then we'll go out to dinner?"

He was leaving her with his credit card?

Her eyes opened again, staring at the dark curtains that were still pulled across the windows in front of her, although she could see the morning sun trying to break through.

"I brought my own money..." she began quietly, wondering for one of the first times if she was supposed to be putting up some kind of fight here. He'd paid for her first class tickets—which he'd said was a business expense, although it was his business—he'd paid for their accommodation, he'd brought her a _Louis Vuitton bag_ for crying out loud, and now he was leaving her with his credit card? And that was on top of the dinners and the drinks and the groceries and the _camera equipment_ that he already paid for.

"I like paying for you," Jace said easily, and then he was dropping a gentle kiss to her shoulder before he was pulling back. "But if you don't want to take the card, that's up to you. I'm still leaving it, and room service is charged to the room anyway, so you don't have to worry about that." Clary nodded, too sleepy to think about much else right now other than to roll onto her back properly so that she could watch Jace move around the darkened room in a half-state of undress with her eyes half-hooded. He came around to her side of the bed, and leaned down, and she _really_ wished she was more awake right now, and could fully appreciate all of Jace's half naked glory. "Go back to sleep, okay?" And he brushed her hair back from her face in a way that was...It kind of reminded her of what her mum used to do, and sometimes Izzy, when she was sick. It was comforting and nice, but it also tingled in a way it definitely didn't with her mum and Izzy. "Just text me when you wake up." He gave her a kiss on the lips, close mouthed and chaste but sweet.

Clary meant to try and stay awake, but Jace's fingers brushed through her hair again, over her forehead, and it was really easy to go back to sleep.

* * *

When Clary woke up a second time, her phone said that it was after lunch time. To be _fair_, it was technically just after ten in Los Angeles, because of the time difference. Her headache was completely gone, thank god. She had snapchats from Izzy and Helen and there were some messages in their flat group chat, asking for updates since she had sent them a quick update to let them know she had landed last night. There was also a text from Jace, saying that he would be back at four, and they could go out for dinner. It was only a few hours away, so Clary ordered a fruit salad from room service and then changed into one of the bikini's she brought and slipped into the pool outside.

It was warm, and private, and the sun was beating down, and when her food arrived, she plugged her phone into the speakers in the living area and opened up the big glass doors that opened to the private pool, spa and barbecue area, turning the music up loud so she could clearly hear it as she dangled her legs in the pool and ate the fresh fruit.

It was calming.

When she had thought about Miami and Jace, she'd honestly only thought about spending time with him and mainly having sex, but actually being away from the city and school and everything normal was nice, and after she finished her fruit salad, and lathered on more sunscreen lotion, she stretched out on one of the lounge chairs beside the bed, turning the music up a little louder.

But it had actually been a while since she had been able to take a breath.

Now, she got to share that moment with Jace.

* * *

They weren't going to have sex tonight.

It had only been a couple of months, but Clary was pretty sure she had been figuring Jace out well, and given the fact that they'd both had a few drinks over their dinner and dessert, she could tell that they weren't going to have sex. She was a little disappointed as they left, Jace handing over his credit card without a second thought before getting up first and holding Clary's jacket for her as she slipped into it, but he still kept her in close to his side with his arm tight around her waist and they seemed to decide without talking that they weren't going to go back straight away, instead walking slowly through the shopping plaza that was next to the plaza.

"So there's no ex's I need to be worried about?" Jace gave her a side-eye that looked stupidly devastating with the uptick of a smirk and Clary _wished_ that she hadn't had the third Harvey Wallbanger. _That_ had been the one that started making her knees feel a little wobbly and her cheeks flush red.

_That_ had probably been the one where Jace had decided that they weren't going to be having sex tonight...

"Clary?" Jace questioned gently and Clary made a face.

"Sorry, spacing out," she waved a hand in front of her and Jace just shook his head, smirk relaxed into a comforting smile, the way that he was able to do that so easily, switch between being hot and _sexy_ and being hot and _sweet_ so easily.

But still sexy, too.

Always sexy.

"I know, it's okay," Jace nudged her gently with his shoulder. "You don't have to apologize for it." Clary couldn't help but smile up at him because, yeah, she spaced out a bit, maybe more than a bit. Her mum called her a dreamer a lot when she was younger, while Jonathan usually just called her an airhead and flicked her nose, but Jace never seemed bothered when she got lost in her thoughts. "Want to tell me what you're thinking about?" He prompted gently and Clary grinned, wiggling her eyebrows and sticking out her tongue.

"Sex," she responded and Jace let out a laugh.

"We'll get there," he replied, and it was said airily, and he looked off to the side, into the well lit store front, but that_ fucking smirk was coming back_. It was going to be this weekend. It was definitely going to be this weekend. If it wasn't this weekend, she would cry, empty half her sock money—which was looking real good, given how much Jace was covering for her without her ever asking—and buy herself the best vibrator she could on overnight delivery. She would film herself and send it to Jace, and she _didn't care what time of day it was or if he had a meeting_. "So. Ex's?" Jace repeated and Clary couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, right," she remembered what he had mentioned before. "No, no one serious. I mean, I had a few boyfriends in high school, but they were all, like..." she shrugged, glancing up at Jace who was looking at her with interest, clearly paying attention. "I don't know, I just—I've never really clicked with someone enough to want to be in a relationship, you know?" Jace made a noise at the back of his throat that sounded non-committal, and Clary had honestly never thought about it much before. She had never been interested in relationships, because she had just never found someone that was interested enough _in_. She wondered if that was something that Jace was going to press, ask her about, maybe it was something he would be worried about. She had never been insecure about it before, Isabelle hadn't had a serious relationship before, and neither had Helen, but they were all young, and Jace was older. "What about you?" She asked, looking up at him. "Izzy only told me about some ex who got mad about a phone call over Christmas?" It was only vague, but she _remembered_, because it had been one of the first things she had learnt about him after they'd kissed at the sports game.

"Oh yeah?" Jace looked surprised, and for a moment, the corners of his mouth went tight, but then he shrugged. "Kaelie, yeah," he said. "We were together for a while, I would say that she's the longest relationship I've had." Clary nodded, and she felt her stomach dip at that, even though it was just over Jace having some history with some bitch that Isabelle had _already_ confirmed that she was better than. It was weird, the way her stomach tightened, and she hoped that it passed soon. "Do you...Have any questions you want to ask?"

_That_ made her laugh.

"Sorry," Clary shot Jace a sheepish look, but he looked relieved, and his shoulders looked looser almost immediately. "Just, like—_no_. Definitely not. Not right now." It was Jace's turn to laugh. "I mean, yeah, maybe later? But...Thank you for telling me?" Jace squeezed her hip, and that feeling in her stomach instantly started easing, feeling as though she had handled it the right way. As they kept walking, Jace easily directing her around other couples and late night shoppers as they continued through the plaza. The night air was helping to sober her up, but her body clock was still on Los Angeles time, given that was where she was yesterday, and it was after eleven here, which meant it was...After two in the morning back home, if she was thinking right.

Fuck.

Not _that_ late, not really, but if she was going to get herself some good dick this weekend, she needed to be rested up.

"Let's head out," Jace suggested, and Clary realized when she looked up at him, that he looked tired as well. Which would make sense, since he had to get up early and actually _work_, while Clary had napped most of the day.

Well.

"If you're gonna give me a good dicking down this weekend, we better head out then, old man," Clary responded sweetly, and then promptly ruined it by yawning practically in Jace's face. He started laughing, both of them stopping so that Clary could cover her mouth and Jace didn't destabilize them as he swayed from side to side, chest still shaking as he chuckled. His other hand came up, to rest on her hip and he shuffled them backwards slightly, so that they weren't in the middle of the walkway, rather pressed against the thick glass of a glowing store front, shoes and glitter tastefully decorating the display window.

"Alright, baby," Jace told her. "Sounds like you got some big plans this weekend."

"I do," Clary said solemnly.

"Been a while since you had a good dicking?" Jace asked, and _yeah_, Clary had literally just said it, and she'd said it to _be_ a dick, she didn't _actually_ use that term for sex—fucking Simon used it, and sometimes it just came out by accident in a non-ironic way she wanted to kick herself for—but when Jace repeated it back, casually, in his deep voice, _with intent_, it was different.

"Yeah," Clary's voice came out a little breathy as she stared up at Jace, wondering if he was going to lean down and kiss her.

"Mm," Jace's lips twitched again, and she felt his hands squeeze her hips again. "Sounds like you really need to get a good nights sleep then," there was amusement in his voice, and she kind of wanted to whine, but she settled for narrowing her eyes, and he leaned forward and kissed her briefly on the forehead. Clary smiled to herself, like, yeah, a little disappointed since she knew they weren't going to fool around tonight, but she got to be with Jace, in Miami, and he always seemed to want to be touching her and keeping her close, and the fluttering in her heart that been happening more and more often, started up again as his nose brushed against hers and then his lips _barely_ touched hers before he was straightening up and moving away. "Let's go," he said, hand dropping to hers, fingers linking between her own.

Just as Jace was pulling her away from the _Louboutin_ store, her eyes landed on the pair of shoes that were clearly the _star_ of the show, the center of the display, circled by fairylights and pink and silver gemstones. They were absolutely gorgeous—_fucking gorgeous_—champagne coloured pumps, with rhinestones and lace flowers. Stupidly gorgeous, so stupidly expensive they didn't even have a price in the window, but it wasn't like Clary would be able to buy them anyway.

"Clary?" Jace was tapping away on his phone before looking up. "I've ordered us a car," he said, showing a local car service app. She snorted, walking over to him and leaving the pretty shoes behind.

"I swear you have everything except the good shit installed in your phone."

"And what's this 'good shit'?" Jace asked, arching an eyebrow as he finished up what he was doing on his phone before tucking it away and reaching out for Clary, their hands having fallen when she had pulled back away to look at the shoes and he'd ordered the car.

She liked how he always did that.

Reconnected them.

Probably way too much.

"I don't know," she cleared her throat. "_Raid: Shadow Legends_." Jace just rolled his eyes with a laugh.

"C'mon, baby," he said fondly, and honestly, Clary was more than happy to follow.

**Merp, I feel as though the sex chapter has unintentionally been really built up. Please don't kill me if it's shit. Hahahahahahahaha *laughs in anxious*. _But_. Yes. Sex. In the next chapter. Promise. All the sex.**

**Tumblr: SereneCalamity  
Twitter: CalamitySerene**


	15. Chapter 15

**I just want to give a special shout out to _aries4me_ who correctly guessed that the shoes that I was basing these on were from the movie _Burlesque_! That made me super happy to read! Anyway, um, on with the chapter so many people were looking forward to and that I'm fucking freaking out about. Here we go...**

Jace was gone when Clary woke up properly, no alarm blaring this time, and she vaguely remembered him getting up and whispering goodbye, but he had obviously moved a lot quieter than he had yesterday. She pouted a little, not having _any_ idea of when he was going to get back, but when she reached out for her phone to check the time—it was just after ten—she saw that he had sent her a couple of texts.

**_I didn't want to wake you up, thought that you might need your sleep. I won't be back as late today. Promise, baby._**

That made Clary smile, before her eyes settled on the next message.

**_I had something delivered to the resort, and housekeeping said they've put it on the table in the main room._**

Okay, so apparently she'd been sleeping so hard that even housekeeping had come in and she hadn't realized? But then she forgot about that as her attention focused back on what he had said at the beginning—_I had something delivered_. She pursed her lips as she pushed back the blankets, rumbling them in a tangle at the bottom of the bed before skipping out of the room and into the living area, eyebrows lifting at the sleek red bag in the middle of the kitchen table. It wasn't until she reached it and saw the writing on the other side, that she realized the brand. _Louboutin_.

"Holy fuck," Clary's breathing hitched and her carefree smile dropped as she reached into the bag, face paling as she took out the silk clutch inside that felt as though it was around a box, the silk clearly expensive—the _whole damn thing_ clearly expensive—and her fingers were shaking a little as she took the box out of the clutch and then slowly lifted the lid.

It was the shoes.

_The_ shoes.

They had been _thousands_.

When she'd seen them last night, yeah, she'd swooned a little, because they were _gorgeous_, but she was used to seeing stupidly pretty things with even more stupid price tags, which meant that she was used to letting things go, ya know, like normal people.

Jace wasn't normal people.

He got her the shoes.

"Holy fuck," she repeated breathlessly as she gently took the high heels out of the box, out of where they were half-wrapped in tissue and her hands were still shaking a little as she turned the shoes over carefully in her hands, running her fingers gently over the rhinestones, and the lace, and the delicate flowers on the champagne heels. Before she was even really thinking, she was putting the shoes down and grabbing for her phone, going straight to Facetime. She only had to wait two rings before Helen's face filled the screen.

"Clare Bear!" Helen announced with a grin, and for once, Clary wasn't going to address the nickname.

"I got shoes," she announced and Helen's expression faltered.

"Shoes?"

"Shoes!" Clary repeated and she turned her phone around so that Helen would be able to see what Clary had just opened, taking in the bag and tissue paper and the shoes. Helen was silent for a moment, until Clary turned her phone around so that she was able to see her friend again and she was met with wide eyes. "Right? _Right_?!" Clary cried and Helen nodded.

"Those look _expensive_!" Helen pouted and flopped back on her bed, the camera angle going all wonky for a split second before her pouting face came back into view. "They _will_ be expensive, because they're from _Jace_." Helen's eyes closed, undoubtedly as she felt sorry for herself, even though she had been in this 'sugar baby' business for a whole lot longer than Clary, and had been getting expensive gifts for a _long_ while. Especially from her favourite, the well talked about Aline.

"Yes, but, like—" Clary's eyebrows raised, asking the question that had popped into her head the instant that she had seen them. "I'm gonna wear them, right?" Helen's eyes popped open.

"Wait, like...Wear them when you..." Helen trailed off and wiggled her eyebrows, looking a whole lot more interested and Clary grinned as she nodded. "_Yes_. You're gonna wear them."

* * *

Jace got home just after three, texting Clary to let her know that he was on his way back. She'd replied and said that she was out in the pool area and she could order them some room service if he hadn't had lunch. Jace had said they could figure out food later, which _hopefully_ he wouldn't be thinking about once they were..._Though_—but she didn't mention anything in her reply.

She'd splurged, with Helen and Isabelle, before this trip, _just a smidge_, and she'd also brought some of her sock money with her.

Thankfully.

The practically full body wax that she'd paid to get done on Tuesday hadn't been fucking pleasant, especially since usually when it came to waxing, her and Isabelle would just have a glass of wine before getting down to business and helping each other out in the bathroom with the boys banned from entering for the next hour or so, so yeah, it was _a different experience_, but with the way that the silk and lace felt against her body when she had been modelling her new lingerie in the pretty heels a few hours before in front of the mirror, it had been worth it. It was a closer wax than she'd had before, had reached and _burned_ at places that hadn't been waxed before, but...She hoped Jace would like it.

"Hey, Clary," Jace's voice had to be a bit louder to be heard over the music that Clary was playing, but he didn't move to turn it down, and that made her smile from where she was stretched out on a lounging chair. She opened her eyes, looking up at Jace from behind the tinted glasses she was wearing, and she saw the way his eyes swept down over her body, in the purple and grey bikini that she was wearing. "Those sunglasses look familiar," he noted, and his lips were curling up in that smile that made her thighs clench together involuntarily.

"Do they?" Clary tilted her head to the side as she looked up at him, scrunching her nose a little, not taking off the sunglasses—_Jace's_ sunglasses—that he was never getting back now. He seemed to have accepted that though. "Funny that." Jace let out a huff of a laugh before leaning down, one hand sliding between the back of the lounge chair and her neck, cupping it there like he always did with a secure, warm palm, before pressing a kiss to her forehead and giving the back of her neck a slight squeeze. "I'm going to have a shower and wash off work for the day, then we can figure out what we want to do tonight, yeah?"

"Sounds good," Clary smiled brightly up at him, glad that her cheeks were already a bit flushed from being out in the sun for most of the day, and the sunglasses perched on her nose were covering up the glow of excitement in her eyes.

"I won't be long," Jace promised before he was straightening back up, but Clary saw it, saw the hungry way his eyes drifted over her again, down her bare legs and over her ankles, the anklet that she sometimes wore and had decided to slip on now because it was delicate and she already knew it would compliment the shoes.

Just like she was already wearing a couple of earrings, a bracelet, and some make up, Jace hadn't seemed to notice because it was all subtle, small things, and she had the sunglasses down over her eyes, and she didn't _want_ him to notice.

Not yet.

She waited until he was in the bathroom, door firmly shut, before she was getting up, moving into the adjoining room and did a quick skim around the room. Housekeeping had come in a few hours ago and changed the sheets and given them fresh towels and straightened out the place, and she'd also been helpful in telling Clary where a few places were that she needed to visit. Clary's eyes darted back toward the bathroom door, and she hadn't turned her music down because she didn't want to rouse suspicion just yet, but she could hear the sound of the shower running, and so she got herself ready, feeling a little worried, a little nervous, a little self-conscious, and a _lot_ excited.

By the time Jace stepped out of the bathroom, his hair damp, a darker shade because of the water with trickles running down his neck and over his shoulders, and wearing only a pair of loose grey sweatpants that he'd taken into the room with him, his towel slung around his shoulders, Clary was back out in their private courtyard, stretched out on her lounge chair, but dressed a bit differently.

"I thought that—" Jace cut himself off as he got closer, his lips still parted and his eyes on her feet.

Or more specifically.

Her shoes.

_The_ shoes.

"You like them?" Clary asked, voice softer and a touch tentative as she looked down at the shoes, at her toes peeking out, glinting a subtle shade of pink that she'd brought at a corner shop when she'd gone out today.

"They're gorgeous," Jace's voice, on the other hand, was rougher.

That was good.

That was _very_ good.

"Thank you," she moved carefully, swinging her legs over the side of the lounging chair, putting her feet down gently on the ground because she was _not_ about to scuff the heels in any way, shape or form. When she straightened up, she felt Jace's eyes—_everywhere else_—and her stomach clenched in anticipation.

Technically she wasn't wearing anything _less_ than the bikini before, but...Lingerie always felt like it was less, given the intent behind it. The way that Jace's eyes were darkening as he took her in clearly said that as well, and he took half a step back, appraising her unabashedly in a way that made her skin burn that wasn't from the sun. And then—and then he tilted his head to the side slightly and circled his finger silently, motioning for her to turn around, and wide eyed, Clary did, slowly turning in a circle and trying_ really _fucking hard not to melt into a puddle of shaking goo right there and then as she turned in a full circle and was facing Jace again.

"You get all pretty for me, baby?" Jace asked, and—_fuck_. His _voice_. It was deep, and a little rough, but sweet, and she could already feel herself getting wet. "Can you take off those sunglasses?" And she did, because he asked nicely, and because she had spent a while making sure her eye make up was _subtle_ but _on point_, and it was fucking hard with Isabelle coaching her through the phone, propped up in the unfamiliar bathroom, but the way that Jace was looking at her made it all worth it. "That's better," Jace smiled at her as their eyes properly met without anything between them, and the smile was warm, sweet, something she was used to even though this situation between them _was not_. "Love your eyes." And why did he say shit like that? She was trying to make this all sexy and he just made it all...Sweet, while still making her feel all horny.

She was there in fucking lace and silk lingerie and thousand dollar heels and he was telling her he loved _her eyes_?!

It was infuriating and the best at the same time.

"Come here," Jace suddenly said and Clary blinked before stepping forward and closing the distance between them, and then Jace's hands were gripping her hips, pulling her forward, and her knees felt unsteady but he was holding her firm and helping her keep her balance and his body was hard and firm against her and then their lips were coming together and there was a _bite_ and a _fire_ that she'd only ever felt brush the surface a few times before, but now it felt as though it was threatening to burst. His tongue pressed to the seam of her mouth and as soon as her lips parted, his tongue was inside her mouth, against her own, tasting her thoroughly and she moaned.

She couldn't help it, the way he was kissing her made her feel as though he owned her mouth, one hand going behind her head to cup the back like he always tended to do, firmly holding her there while the fingers of his other hand held her hip hopefully hard enough to leave bruises tomorrow, because _those_ would be pretty.

"Jace?" Her voice was breathy as she pulled back, a _lot_ breathier than usual, but she wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. "Take me to bed?" Jace's nose brushed against hers as he smiled, but then he was pulling back, although Clary barely had time to pout before he was responding.

"Yeah, baby. I'll take you to bed," he answered softly, and his _eyes_ were like liquid gold before he reached out and his hands were suddenly sweeping her up. Clary let out a cry and then a giggle as she was lifted off the ground, her legs going around Jace's waist as he turned to walk them back to their villa.

"And by _bed_, we're on the same page, right?" Clary couldn't help but ask and Jace chuckled, his chest rumbling against hers, and—she was wet. She was _already_ wet, and if this dragged out much longer, then she was probably going to soak right through her panties.

"Yeah, baby," Jace assured her as he stepped into the villa, into the master bedroom, that smelt like the fresh lilies that Clary had brought from a flower shop this morning and put in a vase that she'd found in the kitchen. The bed was made as Jace lowered her onto it, Clary sitting down and spreading her thighs just a touch, just a bit, just enough so that Jace could step between them. "You like the shoes, baby?" Jace asked as he took a step back, his eyes still _so hot_, travelling all over her, making her skin feel as though as it was going to catch _ablaze_, even though he wasn't touching her.

"I _really_ like them," Clary's throat felt dry as Jace tilted his head to look down at her, and sitting here, on the bed that they had shared for the past two nights, and she felt so. naked.

She'd never really minded nudity, not back when she was younger, not when she was in high school and things were changing and some girls were self conscious in the changing rooms, and not when she first started having sex. Living with Isabelle and becoming friends with Magnus—people who were both so confident in their own skin—had rubbed off on her as well. But, even then, especially the first time that she got naked in front of someone in a sexual situation, there was always going to be a small piece of her that was just a tiny bit insecure. It was locked away, and it wasn't something that she liked to admit, not ever liking to dwell on her insecurities, but sometimes it flared up.

It didn't now.

The way that Jace was looking at her made her feel as though she didn't have a single flaw, as though he was seeing something almost ethereal, and her head felt light in a way that it only had after_ really good sex_ on occasion.

"I can say thank you," Clary tried to cover up how shaky she was feeling right now to get right to the point of it, and really, she _had_ planned on getting down between Jace's knees in the pretty heels and showing him just how much she liked _them _and _him,_ that had been her plan to start, but as she was starting to scoot right to the edge of the bed, but then Jace's big hand was reaching out and spreading out across her collarbone, over her shoulder, halting her movements.

"That's not how this works, baby," Jace told her softly. "You don't have to thank me like that." And—that was nice to hear. She kind of knew that already, though—if he wanted to buy her pretty things just for sex, _that would have happened already_. But..._Fuck_.

"I want to," Clary tried not to pout, because she was fucking _good_ at oral, and she had hoped to show that off a _little_. Jace stared down at her for a moment, and his eyes were just getting _darker_, and she just—his hand was_ so big_ across her shoulder, and the way that he was standing over her made their size difference even more obvious, and she kind of wished that he was still dressed in the suit that he had been in before. Her mind flashed to an image of her in just her heels while he was still wearing his suit, right down to the tie pin and expensive Oxfords, but...That was going to have to be another time.

"You want to?" Jace's eyebrow rose, and a smile played at the corner of his pink lips, a calculated one, and Clary found herself nodding before she even thought about it, and his fingers tightened almost involuntarily around her shoulder. When he started speaking again, his voice was rougher. "As much as I like the idea of that, you're not getting on your knees the first time that we're sleeping together, baby." Clary swallowed hard, saliva suddenly flooded into her mouth and over her tongue. Jace's eyes studied her closely, before he was leaning down, his hand moving to cup her jaw, his thumb sweeping over her cheek, her chin, before pressing down on her lower lip, and Clary felt a rush of that lightness in her head again as she stared up at him, trying not to let her eyes droop closed. "You're so beautiful, Clary," he whispered and Clary couldn't help it, her eyes closed and her mouth opened around his thumb as the digit slipped between her lips.

"_Mmhm_," she mumbled out and Jace made a noise in response, but before she could try to open her eyes to look up at him, he was pulling his thumb out of her mouth and his lips were suddenly meeting hers, the kiss even hotter and more fiery than the one that they had shared outside. Clary whimpered as she was pushed backwards, falling back onto the bed and Jace slid his hands up and over her thighs before skimming the sides of her body in a way that avoided all the best places and made her nipples tighten and her pussy wet, and she didn't understand how _all_ of this shit was happening _before_ they had really done anything.

"Baby," Jace licked at her bottom lip, sucking at it, making her head fuzzy and making things so stupidly hard to focus on what he was saying. "Can I taste you?" Clary's forehead wrinkled slightly, eyes still closed as she tried to process his question, but then after pressing another wet kiss to the corner of her mouth, he pulled back, resting his forehead lightly against hers. "Baby," he repeated, soft but insistent. "Can you move up the bed so I can taste you?"

"Y-_yeah_," Clary managed to say, and she sounded like an idiot, stammering like a virgin, but Jace smiled warmly at her, pulling back just enough for her to have room to push herself back on the bed. Her arms felt as though they were shaking slightly, and she hoped it wasn't obvious as she dug her fingers into the duvet cover underneath her, stretching out her legs on the bed and catching a glimpse of her shoes again. They distracted her for a moment before Jace's knee was pressing into the mattress, dipping it down beside her and drawing her attention away from her shoes, and when she looked up at Jace, he was smiling down at her, glancing down at her heels with a knowing glint in his eyes.

"Undress for me, baby," he told her. "But keep the pretty shoes on." Clary's breathing was shallow as her fingers reached behind her, body trembling as she found the latch of the bra she was wearing, unhooking it and eyelids fluttering as the cups fell forward, loose, and her breasts were exposed, and her eyes sought out Jace's, even as she felt her cheeks burn, but his eyes were nothing but reassuring.

Or, well, they were _something_ more than reassuring, but absolutely nothing that made her self conscious.

They made her shiver, and shake even more, especially as his hands reached out to gently hook in the straps of her bra and drag them down her arms, throwing the flimsy material away so that she was exposed completely down to the waist, and she felt the way her cheeks were going redder, feeling hotter.

"This is pretty, baby," Jace's voice rumbled as his fingers came up, and then he touched her, he touched her somewhere that was _more than _PG, the pad of his thumb brushing over her right nipple and the piercings there, the double piercings that went through either side with four tiny sparkling flowers. "Didn't know you had a piercing here." Clary's lips parted for a response, to correct him and tell him that she actually had _two_, but Jace's thumb kept playing, flicking a little, and Clary whimpered, clenching her thighs together, her chin dropping to her chest so that she could look down at what he was doing, pinching slightly, idly flicking and playing with the hardened nub until Clary really couldn't deal with it, and she sucked in a sharp breath, curling her toes into the soft bottom of the heels and Jace's eyes rose with a knowing smirk on his face. "Panties off, baby. Want to see all of you." And then he was shuffling back and resting on his knees, leaving it to her to take off her underwear, watching her with a calculating gaze.

Clary managed to take her underwear off, and...It was _almost_ embarrassing, the fact that she was wet enough that when her legs parted for her to wiggle out of her underwear in a way that _really_ wasn't the most sexiest, she could actually _see_ it. She could_ fucking see_ how wet she was just by glancing down and seeing a glisten of her pussy and inner thighs.

She couldn't imagine how wet she was going to be once they were done with...Whatever they were going to do. He was going to taste her? _He_ was going to go down on _her_ after turning down a blowjob? She was still wrapping her head around that when Jace's hand pressed to her chest, gently pushing her back until her head was on the pillow, and then his hands were smoothing up her legs on either side, starting at her ankles, just above the shoes, skimming slowly up her calves, thumbs and fingers gentle, and she let out a shaky breath as her eyes began to close again. He reached her knees and his hands swept back down in a soothing motion almost, but when they swept back up again, they began to glide over her inner thighs in a way that had her twitching.

"You're so sensitive, sweet thing," Jace whispered and _that_ name was different, and _that_ name made her moan, as though he had actually physically pleasured her. _Fucks sakes_.

"You're going to fucking ruin me for everyone else and you haven't even _fucking done anything_," Clary's words weren't exactly comprehensive, but Jace seemed to make them out, because he let out a huff of a laugh, but then it went quiet, his hands were firm on her thighs before he was shoving them apart almost roughly, making her gasp. "_Ja_—" her cry was cut off as he lowered himself between her legs and _licked_.

It felt as though she had fucking ascended.

She'd been eaten out before, but not_ a lot_, and only once or twice had it actually been good, and none of it had been _great_.

_This_ was great.

This was...Another level.

Clary's body trembled as Jace's tongue licked between her bare folds, and even though she kept herself reasonably bare down there usually, waxing and keeping herself trimmed, but she'd never had someone go down on her so soon after she'd been cleanly waxed, and this time it had all been done professionally and so she was _really_ bare, absolutely _everywhere_, and it just amplified _everything, _her eyes rolled back and goosebumps rippling over her skin.

Jace was sucking on her clit, his teeth brushing over the sensitive nub that somehow seemed to evade ninety-nine percent of her lovers, and the tip of his tongue teased over it before slipping into her hole and swirling around as though he couldn't get enough of her taste, and Clary just whined and twisted, her head feeling fuzzy and her legs shaking on either side of Jace's head. Jace's arms were under her thighs and wrapped up, hands pressed into her hips, and when she tried to roll herself upward, to get closer to Jace's mouth, to try and force his tongue deeper inside her, he his grip over her hips tightened just slightly, applying just enough pressure to keep her pinned down, and if she really wanted to move, his touch wasn't enough to keep her there, but...She kind of wished it was. His thumbs were pressing in hard, and she hoped that there would be bruises against her waist tomorrow and for the days following, so that she had something to remember this weekend by once they went back to Los Angeles.

"You close to coming, baby?" Jace suddenly spoke, and Clary let out a huff.

"I've been close to coming since you _started_!" She stated, although she sounded nowhere near as confident as she felt, words wavering, and Jace clearly thought so as well.

"So I can keep going then?" Jace asked and Clary wanted to open her eyes in frustration, because _why_ was he trying to get her to talk right now, why couldn't he just keep going?

"_Yes_," Clary scratched at the duvet cover.

"I can keep tasting you, baby?" His voice was husky and she felt his breath against her heated, damp skin and she shivered. "Can I taste you lower?" Her mind felt cloudy and she didn't quite understand what he meant, but then when she realized, she felt her cheeks flush even hotter, the flush spreading down her neck and to her chest. There was a small laugh, low and soft, not making fun of her, fond, and it made her stomach twist over with a curl of heat, and Jace placed a chaste kiss over her clit in a way that had her knees trying to close, but Jace's hands held them open.

"Y-yes," she stammered out, _incredibly_ glad that she had showered so thoroughly this morning. She felt herself tensing, even though everything had been _so good_, but they were about to drift into something that she hadn't dabbled in before, but Jace didn't move straight away, he just started kissing her, along her waist, under her belly button, wet kisses that had her relaxing again and shivering, and then his lips were moving between her lips again, and there was a jolt when his tongue licked between her lower lips again, over her clit, dipping into her hole, thumbs massaging and rotating in circles, pressing in deep to her inner thighs. It felt as though her body was beginning to melt into the bed when Jace's shifted, but she couldn't open her eyes to follow his movements because her _brain_ felt like it was melting as well, and then he was pushing her legs further up, wider apart, and his hands slid into place, hooking behind her knees to keep them spread wide and she felt spit and her own arousal beginning to slide down, between the crease of her ass, just before Jace's tongue licked further down, making her shake and colours explode behind her eyelids. "_Jace_!"

"Gonna come for me, baby?" Jace asked, a bit muffled but the words still clearly reached Clary's ears.

"Yes, _please_?!" She hadn't even realized it had come out as a question, and that her shoulders were tensing and she was clenching around where Jace's tongue was massaging her, but the hum of appreciation from Jace made it sound as though he didn't mind at all.

"Yeah, pretty baby," Jace whispered. "Come for me." And then his hands got even firmer around her thighs as his tongue latched around her clit and sucked _hard_, and it felt as though the space between her ears was filled with cotton wool as she came, Jace's mouth on her the whole time, licking and invading her with his expert tongue, and then she felt a pinch at her pierced nipple, sharp and tingling sensations immediately shooting through her, and her body jerked off the bed. "Come again, Clary," Jace murmured, and she did, because it was _that_ easy to, and Jace made another low, humming noise before turning his head to the side and kissing lightly at her thigh.

She was vaguely aware of him moving, still feeling just _slightly_ out of her body, and then he was settling back over her, his weight comforting between her legs, braced up on two arms as he looked down at her, his hip bones pinning her thighs open, his fingers cool as they brushed over her forehead, pushing back her hair as she slowly opened her eyes.

"You gonna...Get inside me?" Clary asked, her words coming out a little slurred and Jace was so close to her that his face was out of focus, his nose bumping against hers, and he let out a warm laugh, that didn't _smell bad_, thank _fuck_. She hated it when guys had bad breath.

"Yeah, baby," he whispered, and he moved his legs against hers, and she realized that he had shucked off his sweatpants, his legs were bare against hers, although she could still feel material separating their groins, so he must still unfortunately be wearing briefs and she made an annoyed noise, grumbling and jerking her hips upwards and Jace pulled back to look at her, a crease of concern actually marring his face for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"_No_," she replied, her nose wrinkling as she made a face up at him. "You're still wearing clothes." The worry on Jace's face smoothed out and he glanced down at her feet.

"You're still wearing shoes," he pointed out with a smile, even though _he_ had been the one to tell her to keep them.

"Yeah, well, _they're_ pretty. _These_—are just in the way," she grumbled as she managed to wiggle a hand between them and hook a finger into the waist of the briefs and snap them gently against his waist. Jace didn't ask her again, but the smile on his face dropped as he pulled back and tugged down his briefs, his cock standing up tall and curving a little to the left, up toward his muscled stomach, and...He was bigger than most other people Clary had slept with. Probably _all_ of them, actually, the ones with dicks, anyway.

She'd never considered herself someone who particularly cared much about size, _it was all about how you used it_ she sing-songed in her head, but...Jace was big, and given how good he had given head...

"Condoms and lube are—" she made a move to reach for the bedside table, which had been empty except for a box of unopened tissues when she had dug the condoms and lube out of her bag and put them in there a few hours ago, so that they were all prepared.

"I've got it," Jace told her, and his fingers briefly circled her wrist to tug it back and lower it to the bed before he was reaching for the drawer and pulling it open. He rested back on his haunches between her spread thighs, tearing open the corner of the condom he'd pulled out, tossing the wrapper behind him on the bed and taking out the prophylactic and rolling it over himself with an easy, practiced hand and then spreading some lube down the sides.

It was impressive.

Stupidly impressive?

And then he wrapped a big hand around his cock and squeezed, jerking his hand up and down a few times and Clary's stomach turned over at the thought of her own hand wrapping around him because it was so much smaller than his. Maybe her fingers wouldn't be able to wrap all the way around.

"Need to make sure you're ready, baby," Jace raised an eyebrow at her and Clary rolled her eyes back at him, letting out a breathless giggle.

"Pretty sure I'm wet enough," she said and Jace just smiled, leaning forward, one hand smoothing up her thigh again, and pressing up and apart, so that she was exposed to him again, and the simple sensation of being maneuvered so easily made her stomach drop and her heart race and it felt as though an orgasm was_ right there again_, drumming away right under her skin.

"I didn't mean how wet you were, sweet thing," Jace said softly, and he slipped two fingers of his other hand into her. Clary's eyes rolled back at the abrupt intrusion, body easily accepting it, the pleasure rolling over her suddenly as he crooked his fingers upward. "You going to come again, Clary?" It didn't sound _lecherous_, like the question sometimes had from people she'd been with in the past, it was soft and deep and all she could do was nod her head and then she felt a wet kiss to her stomach, his tongue lapping at the skin that was apparently just tingling with a thousand nerve endings. "Come, baby," Jace whispered, and she felt another finger slip inside her, all of them curling upward, toward that special place inside her that had her seeing stars, and she came so hard that she knew she squirted up his arm, dripping down onto the sheets. "_Fuck_, Clary," Jace groaned, but he didn't stop his fingers inside her.

It was a lot.

Three orgasms while she was with someone else was_ a lot_.

Most of the time, she was lucky if she came once, unless it was someone that she had been sleeping with more than once.

Generally it was only the Satisfyer that Isabelle had brought her for Christmas last year that gave her this many back-to-back orgasms.

It was even _more_ exhausting when someone else was involved, the breath in her lungs feeling as though it had been punched out, her legs fighting against the hold that Jace had on them.

"Ohmy...Ohmy_god_," Clary groaned, tossing her head from side to side as she felt Jace press _another_ finger into her, a fourth one. That had been what he had meant when he had said he needs to make sure she's ready. He needed to make sure she was stretched for him. And it _was_ a slight stretch, but it wasn't unpleasant, and her brain felt fuzzy and as he twisted his fingers inside her and scissored them open before pulling them out, Clary realized that she was making a low moaning sounds from the back of her throat, _nguhnguhnguh_. She knew Jace was watching her closely, she could feel the heat from his eyes, but she was too far gone to care, and even when his fingers slipped out of her and he was moving and lowering himself over her properly, the head of his cock positioning itself at her entrance and cool lube gently rubbing over her opening, she couldn't quite find it in her to open her eyes again. But he didn't move, elbows on either side of her head, face close to hers again, and even when she whined he didn't push inside, so she forced her eyes open, even though her gaze was hazy.

"Hey, baby," Jace's voice was reassuring, her body feeling simultaneously electrified by his touch and relaxed by his voice. "We good?" He asked, nuzzling his nose against her cheek before she rolled her hips again.

"_Yes_," she assured him, even though she knew that he was just covering all their bases, making sure that this was something that she really wanted, confirming one last time before they actually went through with _it_. Jace smiled, and he caught her mouth in a kiss and Clary sighed into it, body sinking down into the soft covers beneath her until she felt Jace begin to push into her. "_Oh_—Jace—" Clary's mouth went slack before Jace was even half inside her, hands coming up to cling to his shoulders and nails digging into the taunt muscle. "_Jace_."

"You feel so good, baby," Jace's voice was tight as he dropped his head and started kissing her jaw, her neck, her cheek, anywhere his lips could reach, and he kept pushing into her tight heat, his breathing coming out in broken hitches as he finally bottomed out, breath hot against her ear. "You have no idea how good you feel." All that fuzziness descended over her head again as he sucked at the side of her neck, and her legs were spread_ so fucking wide_ and he was starting to roll his hips so that he was pulling back and pushing in just slightly, and..._It was so much_. "You think you can come again?" He asked her, and...She'd never actually come while _having sex_.

Not actual penetrative sex.

But...When he was pressing back inside her, he was grinding down and stimulating her clit, and the way that his thumbs were pressing into the soft skin behind her knees, gentle but firm, sweet but bruising, and—the way that he was looking down at her, when she actually managed to open her eyes and get a hazy glimpse up at him—

"_Yes_!" Clary gasped and Jace smiled.

"Good, baby," Jace sounded syrupy and happy with her reply, and honestly, she wasn't sure if he was praising her by saying 'good, baby' or calling her 'good baby' but honestly, she didn't care. Because he suddenly started moving faster, and harder, and Clary threw her head back, pleasure lighting every nerve in her body and then Jace was biting at her neck and panting in her ear, before whispering, "Come, baby. Come for me." And she did, it was like it was_ as fucking simple as that_.

And then...She was pretty sure she blacked out?

But that was fine.

That was _completely_ fine.

Because she could hear Jace calling her pretty and sweet, and then curving warm and secure around her, and the world just felt nice and soft, and she slept.

**Hi guys :) I've had some emails and messages asking for some more recommendations and things, so I thought I'd put that in here. If you're not interested, feel free to skip out here because I'm not addressing anything else to do with the story from here on :) I know a lot of people are stuck indoors and at home right now, I'm working from home a lot now as well, so I thought I'd give my usual music and movies and also some Youtubers, and...I hope you guys find some entertainment from them? And please don't hesitate to recommend some to me :)**

**1) _Airplane Mode_ \- Limbo. 2) _why are you here_ \- Machine Gun Kelly. 3) _National Anthem_ \- Lana Del Rey. 4) _Rainbow_ \- Kacey Musgraves. 5) _Forever (Stripped Version)_ \- Fletcher. 6) _Daddy Issues_ \- The Neighbourhood. 7) _moonchild_ \- RM. 8) _Your Eyes Tell_ \- BTS. 9) _The Search_ \- NF. 10) _Keep You Mine_ \- NOTD.**

**My favourite comfort movie at the moment is _Penguin Highway_, and I've been watching a lot of _X-Files._ Haha. On Youtube I've been watching quite a bit from Kendall Rae and Bailey Sarian, who do, like, true crime stories. I also really like watching Cruel World Happy Mind, she does deep dives into MLM's and online scams and stuff and I find that all really interesting. Dylan Is In Trouble is great for movie reviews and he has a sense of humor a lot like my husband, so I run it a lot in the background. Haha. He also has an old channel with music reviews which I really enjoy working through. Then there's is Kristina Maione, who does a variety of commentary videos, her most recent one is about Mia Khalifa, and like how she presents stuff. Then last ones are ItzKeisha and dangelowallace also have sort of commentary videos, both super interesting and researched and good points of view and ways of speaking.**

**So. Yeah. I have heaps more but I don't want to ramble. Please try and look after yourselves. Your heart, your brains, your souls. Everything is a bit scary and...Not good. I don't know what else to say...Much love xx**


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